Evaluation of environmental sustainability in additive manufacturing processes for orthopaedic devices production

Sustainability impact assessment of additive manufacturing represents one of the work packages (WP5) of the European Union Horizon 2020 project “Driving up Reliability and Efficiency of Additive Manufacturing” (DREAM). Additive manufacturing is a versatile technology consisting in melting metallic powders to produce objects from 3D data, layer upon layer. Additive manufacturing applications in industry range from automotive, biomedical (e.g. prosthetic implants for dentistry and orthopedics), aeronautics and others. One of the main target of WP5 is to assess the environmental sustainability of DREAM products and processes, conducted with laser-based powder bed fusion additive manufacturing systems through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Environmental impacts on different impact and damage categories due to manufacturing, use and end of life of the designed solution have been assessed adopting IMPACT 2002+ method

The role of life cycle thinking-based methodologies in the development of waste management plans

The aim of this article is to examine how Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) contributes to the development of Waste Management Plans (WMPs). The case of Italy has been deeply investigated. The article first analyses whether and how the LCT methodologies were applied to the 21 regional WMPs; then, it draws indications for using LCT in the preparation of a WMP. Moreover, it outlines why the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology could be used as a powerful tool for regional planning in the waste field, analysing the indications for preparing a WMP that already exist at the European level and in the Italian National WM Programme. Results reveal that only four of the 21 regional WMPs include comprehensive and site-specific LCA studies. Building on these case study results, insights into the opportunities and benefits associated with incorporating LCT methodologies into WMP development and implementation are provided. This study underscores the critical importance of LCT and LCA in promoting sustainable waste management practices, ensuring compliance with European directives, and offering a foundation for more informed regional planning strategies

Valutazione dell'efficienza ambientale dei tetti verdi a livello globale: Confronto tra casi di studio

Nel mio lavoro di tesi è stata valutata l'influenza climatica sulle prestazioni dei tetti verdi relativamente alla riduzione del runoff, il risparmio energetico e il miglioramento della qualità dell'aria

Sviluppi metodologici nell'analisi LCA relativi al modello di dispersione delle sostanze chimiche su scala locale e del modello di valutazione degli effetti sull'ambiente e sulla salute umana

Oggi il problema ambientale più temuto dalla nostra società e, in particolare, dalle nuove generazioni, è il cambiamento climatico. I suoi effetti devastanti sono percepibili da ogni persona quasi quotidianamente, con inverni sempre più miti e poco piovosi, estati caratterizzate da violenti e brevi temporali alternati a periodi secchi e torridi. Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico sono visibili su scala globale, ed è proprio il vasto impatto territoriale a unire gli attivisti di tutto il mondo. Se si sposta l'attenzione sugli effetti a scala locale, è l'inquinamento dell'ecosistema a preoccupare maggiormente le persone. La diffusione capillare delle sostanze inquinanti in tutti i comparti ambientali getta sospetti sull'aria che si respira, sul cibo che si mangia e sull'acqua che si beve. Inoltre, le persone diffidano delle sostanze chimiche o dei combustibili utilizzati dalle aziende a causa dei sempre maggiori effetti potenziali sulla salute umana, una volta che queste sostanze hanno raggiunto il "target" finale. Sono stati sviluppati diversi modelli fisici e matematici per fornire una risposta al problema della dispersione, cercando di aumentare le conoscenze sui percorsi delle sostanze nell'ecosistema una volta che sono state emesse nell'ambiente. Questi modelli, in base alla loro accuratezza e completezza, sono in grado di tenere conto delle caratteristiche specifiche delle sostanze, anche se ci sono inevitabilmente assunzioni e semplificazioni, dovute alla complessità del fenomeno della dispersione nell'intero ecosistema. La metodologia del Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) fornisce una risposta ai danni causati da queste emissioni, attraverso l'implementazione di modelli che valutano gli effetti tossicologici e cancerogeni sulla salute umana e sull'ecosistema in generale, sulla base della correlazione dose-risposta. Questi modelli, che innanzitutto stimano la migrazione degli inquinanti, oltre alla valutazione degli effetti, rappresentano un primo tentativo di rappresentare la realtà, in quanto la dimensione locale degli effetti non è ancora pienamente considerata o è limitata a determinati comparti ambientali. Il presente studio affronta le suddette problematiche, con l'obiettivo di migliorare la modellazione della dispersione degli inquinanti a livello locale e dei loro effetti sulla salute umana e sull'ecosistema, da un punto di vista tossicologico. In particolare, l'attività centrale è rappresentata dalla valutazione della dispersione di un inquinante nell'aria, nell'acqua, nel suolo fino alla fauna e vegetezione e all'uomo, una volta emesso da una sorgente locale. Il riferimento è il modello a box descritto in Multimedia Environmental Models di Donald Mackay (2001), integrato, in un secondo step del lavoro, con un attuale metodo di calcolo per l’LCA, USEtox 2.0 (Fantke et al. 2017). I risultati della ricerca metodologica sono messi al servizio della metodologia LCA, per ottenere un risultato di danno basato su modelli che tengono conto della complessità dei processi specifici della sostanza, a partire dai dati di input relativi a un'emissione in un comparto ambientale. L'attività di ricerca, applicando l’LCA a un sistema complesso come quello sopra citato, ha l'obiettivo di analizzare, con casi di studio e, se possibile, in modo sperimentale, alcuni aspetti metodologici che ad oggi non sono ancora stati approfonditi. Il progetto rappresenta una grande sfida da affrontare con un approccio Life Cycle Thinking, ma anche una grande opportunità per studiare gli aspetti deboli degli attuali modelli di valutazione ambientale basati sull'LCA.Nowadays, the environmental problem most feared by our society and, in particular, by the new generations, is climate change. Its devastating effects can be felt by every person almost daily, with winters that are increasingly mild and not very rainy, summers characterized by violent and short thunderstorms alternating with dry and torrid periods. The effects of climate change are visible on a global scale, and it is precisely the vast territorial impact that unites activists around the world. If attention is shifted to local-scale effects, it is the pollution of the ecosystem that is of greatest concern to people along with climate change. The widespread diffusion of the phenomenon within all environmental compartments casts suspicion on the air that is breathed, the food that is eaten and the water that is drunk. In addition, people are wary of chemicals or fuels used by companies because of the ever growing potential effects on human health, once these substances have reached the final "target". Several physical and mathematical models have been developed in order to provide an answer to the dispersion problem, trying to increase knowledge about the pathways of substances into ecosystem once they have been emitted into environment. These models, according to their accuracy and completeness, can take into account substance-specific characteristics, although there are inevitably assumptions and simplifications, due to the complexity of the phenomenon of dispersion in the whole ecosystem. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology provides a response to the damage caused by these emissions, through the implementation of models that assess toxicological and carcinogenic effects on human health and on the ecosystem in general based on the dose-response correlation. These models, which, first of all, estimate the migration of pollutants, in addition to the effect assessment, represent a first attempt to represent the reality, as the local dimension of the effects is not yet fully considered or it is limited to certain environmental compartments. The current study addresses the above issues, aiming at enhancing the modelling of the dispersion of pollutants at local level and their effects on human health and the ecosystem, from a toxicological point of view. In particular, the core activity is represented by the evaluation of the dispersion of a pollutant in air, water, soil, up to fauna and vegetation and human beings, once it is emitted from a local source. The reference is the box model described in Multimedia Environmental Models by Donald Mackay (2001), integrated, in a second step of the work, with a current calculation method for LCA, USEtox 2.0 (Fantke et al. 2017). The results of the methodological research are put at the service of the LCA methodology, in order to obtain a damage result based on models that take into account the complexity of the substance-specific dispersion process, starting from the input data related to an emission in an environmental compartment. The research activity, applying the LCA to a complex system as the one mentioned above, has the goal to analyse, with case studies and, if possible, in an experimental way, some methodological aspects that have not yet been thoroughly investigated to date. The project is a big challenge to be faced with a Life Cycle Thinking approach, but it is also a great opportunity to study the weak aspects of the current LCA-based environmental assessment models

Evaluating toxicity impacts of local chemical emissions in Life Cycle Assessment

Purpose: The local dimension of toxicity effect on humans and ecosystem from chemical emissions into rural environments is currently not considered in impact characterization models underlying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The aim of the present study was to understand the relevance of considering a local exposure environment for the magnitude of damage related to human toxicity and ecotoxicity impacts associated with chemical emissions into a local environment.Method: Unit and realistic European emission scenarios were considered in a proposed multimedia nested box model, based on an existing framework modified with the inclusion of a local scale, and tested for ten chemicals in an illustrative case study.Results: A substantial damage increase in terms of characterization factors in the proposed model was found for human health, mainly for local freshwater emissions (up to three orders of magnitude compared to emissions into continental freshwater for naphthalene) and soil emissions (up to two orders of magnitude, in particular for emissions into natural soil for 1,2-dichloroethane).Conclusions: Based on our results, we suggest to use the proposed framework in LCA applications, when more specific information about the local emission environment is known. With respect to considering the local-scale, however, spatialized models might be preferable over nested box models to properly capture local phenomena in rather highly densely populated areas

Life Cycle Assessment per quantificare la sostenibilit\ue0 dei prodotti cosmetici

La metodologia Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) \ue8 lo strumento pi\uf9 usato per valutare le performance ambientali di prodotti, processi e servizi, poich\ue9 l\u2019identificazione e la quantificazione degli impatti ambientali viene eseguita secondo correlazioni scientifiche causa-effetto e la standardizzazione fornita dalle norme UNI EN ISO 14040:2006 e UNI EN ISO 14044:2006 garantisce risultati verificabili e riproducibili. Nel presente lavoro vengono illustrati casi studio realizzati mediante l\u2019applicazione della metodologia LCA su prodotti cosmetici, i cui risultati pongono l\u2019attenzione su aspetti che il consumatore non \ue8 portato a considerare con facilit\ue0, a causa anche di un\u2019informazione parziale che le industrie cosmetiche forniscono sui propri prodotti. Tra i principali risultati riportati vi \ue8, innanzitutto, la grande incidenza degli ingredienti sugli impatti ambientali, a cui segue quella dovuta alle formulazioni, sotto l\u2019aspetto dell\u2019origine dei componenti. Gli autori sottolineano alcune criticit\ue0 negli studi considerati, prima fra tutte la mancanza di adozione di un metodo di valutazione del danno (endpoint), indispensabile per confrontare e valutare in maniera chiara e univoca le performance ambientali. Un ulteriore problema \ue8 legato alla scelta dei confini del sistema, che spesso non prendono in considerazione il ciclo di vita completo del prodott

Life cycle impact assessment of solution combustion synthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and its comparison with more conventional strategies

This paper represents the first attempt to quantitatively and reliably assess the environmental sustainability of solution combustion synthesis (SCS) with respect to other soft chemistry strategies, which are more conventionally employed in the preparation of engineered oxide nanomaterials, namely hydrolytic and non-hydrolytic sol-gel syntheses (i.e., HSGS and NHSGS). Indeed, although SCS is well known to rely on significant reduction in the energy as well as time required for the obtainment of the desired nanocrystals, its quantitative environmental assessment and a detailed comparison with other existing synthetic pathways represents an absolute novelty of high scientific desirability in order to pursue a more sustainable development in the inorganic chemistry as well as materials science research fields. TiO2 nanoparticles were selected as the material of choice, for the production of which three slightly modified literature procedures were experimentally reproduced and environmentally evaluated by the application of the comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Particularly, SCS was compared from an environmental perspective with sol-gel approaches performed both in water and in benzyl alcohol. The results of the present study were also framed among those recently obtained in a systematic study assessing seven further chemical, physical and biological routes for the synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles, comprising also flame spray pyrolysis (typically used in industrial productions), highlighting and quantifying the excellent environmental performances of SCS