Information System on Substances in Products and Raw Materials as an Important Step to Reach Compliance with RoHS Directive in a Company

RoHS directive restricts the use of certain substances in new electric and electronic equipment. Producers as well as importers must be able to demonstrate compliance by technical documentation or other information. A very important step within a compliance strategy is development of an internal information system to ensure the proper documentation. The documentation created internally and provided by suppliers shall fulfil the com-pany’s own information needs, as well as satisfy the enforcement authorities. RoHS directive provides no stan-dards for the documentation how to demonstrate compliance. Regarding such raw materials as chemicals, legis-lation like REACH prescribes very clear requirements for information (Safety Data Sheets). With regard to other raw materials, there are no exact rules. On one hand, it gives a room for innovation and free interpretation focus-ing on company’s own needs. On the other hand, it bears certain insecurity whether the information provided is proper and sufficient. It also means that internal standards for elaboration and checking of the documentation provided by suppliers are necessary. The existing situation in Latvia with product declarations regarding RoHS from the perspective of industrial companies and enforcement authorities is analyzed in this article. Main chal-lenges are identified and suggestions for improvement options of product declarations and internal information system are given

Set of Criteria for Environmentally Sound Material Choice as an Eco-Design Tool

Eco-design is a part of a product design process with the aim to reduce the environmental impact of the product during its entire life cycle. Despite of recognition on the strategic level and growing market interest for green products, the practical implementation of eco-design in industry, especially small and medium size enterprises, is slow. One of the reasons is lack of simple and practical tools. An important part of the product design process having considerable consequences for the environment and human health is the material selection. Therefore, we aimed at development of a screening and ranking tool, which would address 3 issues – toxic dispersion, material use and embodied energy - from a life cycle perspective. The offered set of criteria provide the 5-level grading system expressed in the following words: negligible, low, moderate, high, very high. Development of criteria is based on the following information sources and considerations: •Criterion on embodied energy of the material is based on information on MJ of energy, necessary for extraction and production of 1 kg of the raw material. Further processing of the material requires some energy as well, but it is usually less than in the initial production, and therefore disregarded. •Criterion on toxic dispersion is based on information on classification and labelling system (e.g. hazard communication tool enforced by legislation [6]), environmental properties of chemical (mobility, stability), binding to the product matrix, use patterns of the product and end of life scenario. •Recyclability criterion is based on the inherent recyclability of the material, product design and end of life scenario of the product. This criteria system is utilising information, which shall be available for the producer of the product e.g. article (design, use, potential end of the life scenario), or which can be obtained from suppliers (e.g. properties of chemical substances within materials); however, some information has to be obtained from the publicly available and commercial data basis. The method is universal and applicable for different products; the quantitative results are suitable only for internal use within company. Nevertheless, this criteria system promotes collection of information, which can be valuable for application of other tools and instruments e.g. eco-labelling. Although new EU legislation – REACH places all responsibility on the supplier of the chemicals (e.g. producer of importer) requesting that all the chemicals placed on the market must be safe for the intended use there is still a place also for producers of articles to screen the chosen materials regarding the content of chemicals since the common legislation usually sets the minimum standards, which might not be sufficient for a company aiming at the products with higher environmental performance or having higher social responsibility. Also, the “safety” of the materials depends very much on the implementation level of REACH, especially with regard to the imported materials

Feasibility of Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

The objective of the paper is to discuss the potential of cellulosic ethanol production processes and compare them, to find the most appropriate production method for Latvia`s situation, to perform theoretical calculations and to determine the potential ethanol price. In addition, price forecasts for future cellulosic and grain ethanol are compared. A feasibility estimate to determine the price of cellulosic ethanol in Latvia, if production were started in 2010, was made. The grain and cellulosic ethanol price comparison (future forecast) was made through to the year 2018

Legislative Developments and Ecodesign Tools for Reduction of Chemical Risks

Likumdošana un ekodizaina paņēmieni ar ķimikālijām saistīto risku mazināšanai. Vides piesārņojums ar ķīmiskajām vielām vielām ir sasniedzis tādus apmērus, kas pieprasa nekavējošu rīcību. Pasaules samits 2002 gadā formulēja ambiciozu mērķi līdz 2020 gadam samazināt ķimikāliju izsaukto negatīvo ietekmi uz cilvēka veselību un vidi. Rakstā apskatīti svarīgākie normatīvie akti, kas paredz produktu (izstrādājumu) radīto ķīmisko risku samazināšanu: REACH (Regula par ķīmisko vielu reģistrēšanu, licenzēm un ierobežojumiem), RoHS (Bīstamo vielu ierobežojumu direktīva) un citi. Raksts kā vienu no visefektīvākajām metodēm ķīmisko vielu riska samazināšanai piedāvā ekodizainu, ko izmanto produkta izstrādes fāzē, kad ir iespējams izvairīties no problemātisku materiālu lietošanas, vai ieviest slēgtas sistēmas ražošanā. Publikācija analizē esošos ekodizaina instrumentus attiecībā uz to potenciālu samazināt produktu (izstrādājumu) radīto ķīmisko vielu risku un panākt atbilstību likumdošanas prasībām. Apzinātas likumdošanas kritiskās vietas, kas neveicina nevēlamu vielu izmantošanas pārtraukšanu. Uzskaitītas galvenās grūtības, kas kavē ekodizaina instrumentu izmantošanu ķīmisko risku samazināšana

Ekodizaina metodes rūpniecisku produktu dzīves cikla ietekmes uz vidi samazināšanai

Produktu ietekmes uz vidi novērtēšanai ir izstrādātas dažādas ekodizaina metodes. Pētījuma mērķis noteikt četru ekodizaina metožu uzbūvi un piemērotību dažādu ekodizaina uzdevumu risināšanai, lai samazinātu produkta ietekmi uz vidi tā dzīves cikla laikā. Pētījumam izvēlētās četras ekodizaina metodes salīdzinātas, ņemot vērā un analizējot to darbības principus, spēju novērtēt dažādus produktos izmantojamos materiālus un sniegt ražotājam ieteikumus, lai samazinātu produkta ietekmi uz vidi. Ņemot vērā lielo materiālu daudzveidību, kas tiek izmantoti produktu ražošanā, ir grūti atrast universālu metodi visu materiālu ietekmes uz vidi vienlaicīgai novērtēšanai. Pirmā latviešu valodā pieejamā vides ekspertu sistēma veidota, balstoties tieši uz dažādiem produktā izmantojamo materiālu izvēles aspektiem, parādot saistību starp materiālu izvēli un produkta radīto ietekmi uz vidi, kā arī ietver normatīvo aktu un ekomarķējuma prasības

Reforming of Bioethanol to Hydrogen for Use in Fuel Cell Cogeneration Plants

Darbā ir veikta bioetanola autotermiskās pārveidošanas procesa eksperimentālā izpēte un iegūto mērījumu datu regresijas analīze. Darba galvenais mērķis bija, izmantojot eksperimentālos datus, iegūt regresijas sakarības starp būtiskākajiem atkarīgajiem mainīgajiem, tādiem kā ūdeņraža un oglekļa oksīda koncentrācija iegūtajā gāzē un neatkarīgajiem mainīgajiem, tādiem kā gaisa patēriņa koeficients, ūdens-oglekļa molārā attiecība, reaģentu temperatūra pārveidošanas reaktora ieejā, un spiediens reaktorā. Eksperimentālā autotermiskā pārveidotāja sistēma sastāv no iztvaicētāja, reaktora un vienpakāpju ūdens-gāzes apmaiņas reakciju reaktora. Darbā attēlotas empīriski iegūtas sakarības starp ūdeņraža un oglekļa oksīda koncentrācijām un tās ietekmējošiem faktoriem izejā no autotermiskās pārveidošanas reaktora. Ūdeņraža un oglekļa oksīdu koncentrāciju vērtības, kas aprēķinātas ar regresijas vienādojumiem tiek salīdzinātas ar vērtībām, kas tiek iegūtas no ķīmiskā līdzsvara aprēķiniem, kas veikti ar imitācijas datorprogrammu „ChemCAD”. Iegūtie regresijas vienādojumi ir lietojami, lai optimizētu pārveidošanas procesu ar nolūku iegūt maksimālas ūdeņraža un minimālas oglekļa oksīda koncentrācijas pārveidošanas gāzē

A New Method for Eco-Design of Electric and Electronic Products

Ecodesign is the integration of environmental considerations at the design phase, considering the whole product life cycle. Expert systems are very helpful for implementation of the ecodesign. The very first such system in Latvian was developed as a master’s thesis at the Institute of Energy Systems and Environment. A particular effort was made to show the relation between material choice in a product and the product’s environmental impact. The developed system uses the basic guidelines of eco-design, EU legal restrictions concerning production of the electric and electronic products, and requirements of stakeholders. The environmental impact of materials used in products was evaluated to help manufacturers to carry out eco-design and make the right decisions concerning materials in the analysed products. The user of this tool can evaluate product’s conformance to ecodesign guidelines and to the requirements of Europe’s ecolabel “Ecoflower”. The well known “Eco-Indicator’99”method was used in the new expert system to evaluate environmental impact of materials. In addition, the new tool gives a short description of polymers, metals and other materials to help the user to identify and increase competence about various materials which could be used in the product. Although the completed methodology was targeted primarily at electric and electronic products, it is relatively universal and can be used by other product manufacturers as well. Because the new expert system is simple and requires no specialized computer knowledge or ecodesign skills, it can be used as a teaching aid for ecodesign courses at universities. A description of the instrument and results of its application, and suggestions for further development are provided in the paper

Chemical Risk Communication from the Ecodesign Perspective: Legislative Preconditions and Needs for More Information than Required by Law

Ecodesign or design for the environment is a systematic design approach to reduce environmental impacts of products and to achieve higher protection standards than set by law. The chemicals legislation of the European Union is seen as one of the most advanced in the world regarding protection of human health and environment. REACH - Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals enhances risk communication on the supply chain and makes a ground for generation of chemicals safety information, e.g., feeds the information needed for communicating chemicals’ risks down the supply stream including classification, labeling and safety data sheets as required by the regulation on CLP (Classification - Labelling - Packaging) according to GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Chemicals). The main responsibility about chemicals’ safety is placed on the industry; however, the most dangerous chemicals are restricted and banned in a transparent and systematic way. Are the risk assessment measures upstream sufficient for the ecodesign? Is it needed to judge upon chemical risks of the non-chemical products during design phase to achieve higher standards for the environmental and human health protection? This study indicates the benefits from the REACH system for the ecodesign, as well as highlights the needs for an enhanced risk communication on the supply chain compared to the current legislative requirements, especially regarding the materials: intended content of chemicals and residues /impurities. For example, in order to demonstrate compliance with environmental labelling criteria, very detailed information about the chemicals contained in materials is required