- Authors: Titi Tiara Anasstasia
- From: Magister Teknologi untuk Pengembangan Berkelanjutan (MTPB) Sekolah Pasca Sarjana UGM
Abstract:
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an important tool to calculate and to assess potential environmental impacts. The aim of this study is to illustrate the use of LCA in (1) comparing the production of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polycarbonates (PC) water-filled bottles and (2) comparing 2 scenarios in adipic acid production namely incinerate lignin and sell the lignin as byproduct. OpenLCA software has been used for LCA calculations. The LCA calculations estimate a number of environmental impacts such as photochemical oxidation potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, acidification potential, ozone depletion potential, and delpetion of fossil fuels. This study demonstrates the use of 4 standard steps in an LCA study: goal and scope definition, boundaries definition and functional unit, inventory analysis (LCI) and impact assessment (LCIA). For the bottle production case study, the LCA results showed that PET bottle production in general has lower environmental impact than PC. For the adipic acid production, ?incinerate the lignin? scenario to substitute a portion of energy demand in adipic acid production in general gave lower environmental impacts than selling the lignin. This study reveals the role of LCA as a decision making tool to evaluate a production process by using life cycle principles. As a result, better assessment of environmentally friendly products or processes can be made.
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