Continent-specific Intake Fractions and Characterization Factors for Toxic Emissions: Does it make a Difference?

-: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.012 Goal and Scope: This paper aims to develop continental characterization factors for the human toxicity impacts of emissions released to air in different continents and to analyze under which conditions this spatial distinction makes a significant difference compared to generic characterization factors. Methods: The IMPACT 2002 multimedia and multipathways model has been parameterized to define 6 continental box-models, each of them nested in a world box in order to capture impacts of emissions leaving the initial continent. Applying the model to a test set of 31 heterogeneous chemicals emitted to air, intake fractions and human toxicity characterization factors were calculated for each continent and compared. Results and Discussion: For a given chemical, characterization factors can vary of typically a factor 5 to 10 between continents (max 102), mainly as a function of population density for inhalation and as a function of the total agriculture production per km2 for ingestion. This is significant but still limited compared to the variation between substances, of 106 in intake fraction and of 1012 in cumulative risks. Conclusion: The variation amplitude is limited for persistent chemicals and decreases with the fraction of the chemical advected out of the continent. Moreover, the ranking between continents remains almost the same for all chemicals. Therefore generic characterization factor for air emissions calculated at continental level, such as the one proposed by the common life cycle assessment method, are in most cases suitable for comparative purposes in any other continent. However, continent specific characterization factors are required if one is interested in evaluating absolute values or in comparing impact between scenarios with emissions in very different continents. For this purpose, a simplified but accurate correlation is determined to extrapolate continent specific intake fractions and characterization factors of a wide range of substances for Oceania, Africa, South America, North America and Asia, starting from the results of Europe as a base continent. -: Recommandation and Perspectives. Further research should focus on linking the different continental boxes to obtain a global spatial model including major climatic phenomenon such as the air transport by jet stream. The level of spatial resolution, however, has to be carefully selected to capture significant differences, but at the same time to avoid unnecessarily requirement efforts for data gathering and calculation capabilitie

Assessing Regional Sustainability with the EPSILON Project

http://www.smia.info/files/eh94g6x4.f1_fr-1254.pdfInternational audienceThe EPSILON project (Environmental Policy via Sustainability Indicators On a European-wide level --2002-2005) is delivering a GIS integrated computerized model for benchmarking European regions through an aggregation of indicators represented on sustainability maps. Assessing sustainability within the EPSILON project has been addressed over four spheres/pillars: the environmental, the economic, the social and the institutional dimension as defined by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. A coherent objective based structure has been defined relying strongly on the analytical DPSIR framework (Driving-Forces, Pressures, State, Impact and Response model from the European Environmental Agency). Such structure has been defined through a relevant definition of Indicators, sub-themes, themes and pillars for which maps at national level over 15 European countries are provided. Regional maps are also provided at regional levels (NUTS II and NUTS III levels). These results should not be considered as absolute figures but rather as an attempt of a relative sustainability assessment. Such regional sustainability assessment illustrates the interest to move down from a national assessment to a more local level by revealing higher data dispersion and detecting for example specific environmental issues, which would have been levelled otherwise at national scale

Ranqueamento de sistemas de produtos baseado na avaliação da sustentabilidade do ciclo de vida: tomada de decisão estocástica baseada em múltiplos critérios

Purpose – Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) provides useful and comprehensive information on product system performance. However, it poses several challenges for decision-making process due to (i) multidimensional indicators, (ii) conflicting objectives and (iii) uncertainty associated with the performance assessment. This research proposes an approach able to account uncertain life cycle sustainability performances through multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) process to support decision-making.Design/methodology/approach – Our method is structured in three phases: i) assessing the uncertainty of LCSA performances, ii) propagating LCSA uncertainty into MCDA methods and iii) interpreting the stochastic results. The approach is applied on an illustrative case study, ranking four alternatives to biodiesel supply.Findings –The recommendation generated by this approach provides an information about the confidence the decision maker can have in a given result (ranking of solutions) under the form of a probability, providing a better knowledge of the risk (in this case due to the uncertainty of the preferred solution). As such, stochastic results, if appropriately interpreted, provide a measure of the robustness of the rankings generated by MCDA methods, overcoming the limitation of the overconfidence of deterministic rankings.Originality/value – The fundamental contributions of this paper are to (i) integrate LCSA uncertainty into decision-making processes through MCDA approach; (ii) provide a sensitivity analysis about the MCDA method choice, (iii) support decision-makers’ preference choices through a transparent elicitation process and (iv) provide a practical decision-making platform that accounts simultaneously uncertain LCSA performances with stakeholders’ value judgments.Propósito – A avaliação de sustentabilidade do ciclo de vida (LCSA) fornece informações úteis e abrangentes sobre o desempenho de um sistema de produtos. Entretanto, existem alguns desafios associado ao processo de tomada de decisão envolvendo esses resultados: (i) indicadores multidimensionais, (ii) objetivos conflitantes e (iii) incerteza associada à avaliação de desempenho. Esta pesquisa propõe uma abordagem que considera a incerteza do desempenho em termos de sustentabilidade do ciclo de vida através do processo de análise de decisão baseado em múltiplos critérios (MCDA) para apoiar a tomada de decisão.Metodologia – Nosso método está estruturado em três fases: i) avaliação da incerteza do desempenho obtido por meio da LCSA, ii) propagação da incerteza da LCSA nos métodos MCDA e iii) interpretação dos resultados estocásticos. A abordagem foi aplicada em um estudo de caso ilustrativo, classificando quatro alternativas de fornecimento de biodiesel.Resultados –  A recomendação gerada por esta abordagem fornece uma informação sobre a confiança que o tomador de decisão pode ter em um determinado resultado (classificação de soluções) sob a forma de uma probabilidade, proporcionando um melhor conhecimento do risco (neste caso devido à incerteza da solução preferida). Assim, os resultados estocásticos, se interpretados de forma adequada, fornecem uma medida da robustez dos rankings gerados pelos métodos MCDA, superando a limitação do excesso de confiança dos rankings determinísticos.Originalidade – As contribuições fundamentais deste artigo são (i) integrar a incerteza da LCSA nos processos de tomada de decisão por meio da abordagem MCDA; (ii) fornecer uma análise de sensibilidade sobre a escolha do método MCDA, (iii) apoiar as escolhas de preferência dos tomadores de decisão por meio de um processo de elicitação transparente e (iv) fornecer uma plataforma de tomada de decisão prática que contabiliza simultaneamente os desempenhos das performances LCSA incertas com julgamentos de valor das partes interessadas

Milk protein production by a more environmentally sustainable process : bipolar membrane electrodialysis coupled with ultrafiltration

The increased demand for food production to nourish the rapidly growing human population raises serious sustainability issues for the food sector. Indeed, conventional food production lines involve processes having a significant environmental burden. Hence, the present study aims to demonstrate an environmentally sustainable process of food production. The milk protein was chosen as a model food ingredient due to its exceptional role in the human diet. The proposed innovative process of milk protein production includes bipolar membrane electrodialysis coupled with ultrafiltration (EDBM-UF). The crucial problem during the EDBM-UF of milk, such as different types of membrane fouling, was successfully solved. Moreover, the life cycle assessment of the novel EDBM-UF protein production process was carried out and compared to a conventional acid/base process. Additionally, a sensitivity test of electricity supply at different geographical locations of the world was performed since electricity is the main energy source for the EDBM-UF process and it could be derived from different sources (renewable and non-renewable). The assessment results demonstrate that the proposed electromembrane process has significant environmental benefits compared to the conventional process using chemicals independently from the electricity supply mix from all considered geographical locations. Thus, EDBM-UF could become a prospective industrial technology taking into account environmental concerns and promoting the development of healthy human society

Los anticuerpos asimétricos : Estructura y función

Nosotros y todos los vertebrados, vivimos rodeados de microorganismos patógenos que nos agreden permanentemente. No obstante ello normalmente no nos enfermamos porque disponemos de diferentes mecanismos para lucha contra esa agresión siendo uno de los más importantes el de la defensa inmune, el que, a diferencia de los otros, es específico para el agente agresor. Participan en el mismo cé­lula, -los linfocitos T-, que a través de receptores de membrana interactúan con los antígenos promoviendo su destrucción y eliminación, y los anticuerpos, - secretados por linfocitos B-, moléculas proteicas pertenecientes a la Familia de las inmunoglobulinas (Ig), de las que existen diferentes clases (cinco en el hombre).Trabajo galardonado con el Premio "Fundación Alfredo Manzullo", versión 1997Academia Nacional de Agronomía y Veterinaria (ANAV

Los anticuerpos asimétricos : Estructura y función

Nosotros y todos los vertebrados, vivimos rodeados de microorganismos patógenos que nos agreden permanentemente. No obstante ello normalmente no nos enfermamos porque disponemos de diferentes mecanismos para lucha contra esa agresión siendo uno de los más importantes el de la defensa inmune, el que, a diferencia de los otros, es específico para el agente agresor. Participan en el mismo cé­lula, -los linfocitos T-, que a través de receptores de membrana interactúan con los antígenos promoviendo su destrucción y eliminación, y los anticuerpos, - secretados por linfocitos B-, moléculas proteicas pertenecientes a la Familia de las inmunoglobulinas (Ig), de las que existen diferentes clases (cinco en el hombre).Trabajo galardonado con el Premio "Fundación Alfredo Manzullo", versión 1997Academia Nacional de Agronomía y Veterinaria (ANAV

Life cycle assessment of two baby food packaging alternatives: glass jars vs. plastic pots

Background, aim, and scope: This paper compares the life cycle assessment (LCA) of two packaging alternatives used for baby food produced by Nestlé: plastic pot and glass jar. The study considers the environmental impacts associated with packaging systems used to provide one baby food meal in France, Spain, and Germany in 2007. In addition, alternate logistical scenarios are considered which are independent of the two packaging options. The 200-g packaging size is selected as the basis for this study. Two other packaging sizes are assessed in the sensitivity analysis. Because results are intended to be disclosed to the public, this study underwent a critical review by an external panel of LCA experts. Materials and methods: The LCA is performed in accordance to the international standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The packaging systems include the packaging production, the product assembly, the preservation process, the distribution, and the packaging end-of-life. The production of the content (before preservation process), as well as the use phase are not taken into account as they are considered not to change when changing packaging. The inventory is based on data obtained from the baby food producer and the suppliers, data from the scientific literature, and data from the ecoinvent database. Special care is taken to implement a system expansion approach for end-of-life open and closed loop recycling and energy production (ISO 14044). A comprehensive impact assessment is performed using two life cycle impact assessment methodologies: IMPACT 2002+ and CML 2001. An extensive uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo as well as an extensive sensitivity study are performed on the inventory and the reference flows, respectively. Results: When looking at the impacts due to preservation process and packaging (considering identical distribution distances), we observe a small but significant environmental benefit of the plastic pot system over the glass jar system. Depending on the country, the impact is reduced by 14% to 27% for primary energy, 28% to 31% for global warming, 31% to 34% for respiratory inorganics, and 28% to 31% for terrestrial acidification/nutrification. The environmental benefit associated with the change in packaging mainly results from (a) production of plastic pot (including its end-of-life; 43% to 51% of total benefit), (b) lighter weight of packaging positively impacting transportation (20% to 35% of total benefit), and (c) new preservation process permitted by the plastic system (23% to 34% of total benefit). The jar or pot (including cap or lid, cluster, stretch film, and label) represents approximately half of the life cycle impacts, the logistics approximately one fourth, and the rest (especially on-site energy, tray, and hood) one fourth. Discussion: The sensitivity analysis shows that assumptions made in the basic scenarios are rather conservative for plastic pots and that the conclusions for the 200-g packaging size also apply to other packaging sizes. The uncertainty analysis performed on the inventory for the German market situation shows that the plastic pot system has less impact than the glass jar system while considering similar distribution distances with a confidence level above 97% for most impact categories. There is opportunity for further improvement independent of the type of packaging used, such as by reducing distribution distances while still optimizing lot size. The validity of the main conclusions presented in this study is confirmed by results of both impact assessment methodologies IMPACT 2002+ and CML 2001. Conclusions: For identical transportation distances, the plastic pot system shows a small but significant reduction in environmental burden compared to the glass jar system. Recommendations and perspectives: As food distribution plays an important role in the overall life cycle burdens and may vary between scenarios, it is important to avoid additional transportation of the packaged food in order to maintain or even improve the advantage of the plastic pot system. The present study focuses on the comparison of packaging systems and directly related consequences. It is recommended that further environmental optimization of the product also includes food manufacturing (before preservation process) and the supply chain of raw material