LCA for Plastics

LCA for Membrane Processes

This chapter presents an overview of the current state of the art concerning the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess and improve the environmental performance and sustainability of processes that use or are based on membrane technologies. A presentation of the LCA methodology is made, based on the current framework defined by the ISO Standard, focusing on the main aspects and h...

Generalized Labeled LCA Queries

Making LCA More Efficient

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has gained attention because it enables quantitative evaluation of the burden a product places on the environment. However, acceptance of LCA has proceeded slowly because a large amount of work is required to gather the environmental burden data used in the evaluation. To shorten this work time, we utilize readily-accessible databases both internal and external to th...

Main Characteristics of LCA

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has a number of defining characteristics that enables it to address questions that no other assessment tools can address. This chapter begins by demonstrating how the use of LCA in the late 2000s led to a drastic shift in the dominant perception that biofuels were “green”, “sustainable” or “carbon neutral”, which led to a change in biofuel policies. This is followed ...

Cavitation instabilities in plastics and rubber-modified plastics

Spherical void expansion in plastics and rubber-modified plastics is investigated under radial traction conditions. The plastics are modeled as elastic-plastic pressure-sensitive materials and the rubbers are modeled as nonlinearly elastic materials. First, the growth of a spherical void in an infinite plastic matrix is investigated under remote radial traction conditions. The results show that...