Miyoshi, S.C.; Secchi, A.R. Simultaneous Life Cycle Assessment and Process Simulation for Sustainable Process Design. Processes2024, 12, 1285.
Miyoshi, S.C.; Secchi, A.R. Simultaneous Life Cycle Assessment and Process Simulation for Sustainable Process Design. Processes 2024, 12, 1285.
Miyoshi, S.C.; Secchi, A.R. Simultaneous Life Cycle Assessment and Process Simulation for Sustainable Process Design. Processes2024, 12, 1285.
Miyoshi, S.C.; Secchi, A.R. Simultaneous Life Cycle Assessment and Process Simulation for Sustainable Process Design. Processes 2024, 12, 1285.
Abstract
While there are software tools available for assisting to conduct the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), such as OpenLCA, these tools lack integration with process design, simulation and optimization software. As LCA has critical role in sustainable product design, it is presented in this work a platform called EMSO_OLCA, which integrates the LCA provided by OpenLCA into the Environment for Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization (EMSO). EMSO_OLCA incorporates a database of environmental impact assessment methodologies from OpenLCA and aligns to the principles of LCA outlined in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. Validation tests were conducted to compare the results obtained by the LCA of sugarcane ethanol using OpenLCA and EMSO_OLCA, revealing a high level of agreement. The average relative error was 0.045%, indicating a negligible discrepancy between the tools. Besides, it took only 0.3 seconds for calculation, which is desirable for using with process systems engineering tools. A second case study was applied to a steam and bioelectricity production from the combustion of sugarcane bagasse and straw in a combined heat and power system. The results show the integration of LCA with simulation and sensitivity analysis tools, thus contributing for supporting sustainable decision-making processes. EMSO_OLCA bridges the gap between LCA and process engineering, enabling a holistic approach to sustainability, design and implementation of environmentally friendly solutions.
Keywords
Process Simulation; Sensitivity Analysis; OpenLCA; EMSO; EMSO_OLCA
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Sustainable Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.