The applicability of non-local LCI data for LCA

Ossés de Eicker, Margarita; Hischier, Roland; Kulay, Luiz Alexandre; Lehmann, Martin; Zah, Rainer; Hurni, Hans (2010). The applicability of non-local LCI data for LCA. Environmental impact assessment review, 30(3), pp. 192-199. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.eiar.2009.08.007

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This study evaluated how applicable European Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data are to assessing the environmental impacts of the life cycle of Brazilian triple superphosphate (TSP). The LCI data used for the comparison were local Brazilian LCI data, European LCI data in its original version from the ecoinvent database and a modified version of the European LCI data, which had been adapted to better account for the Brazilian situation. We compared the three established datasets at the level of the inventory as well as for their environmental impacts, i.e. at the level of Life Cycle Environmental Assessment (LCIA). The analysis showed that the European LCIs (both the original and the modified ones) considered a broader spectrum of background processes and environmental flows (inputs and outputs). Nevertheless, TSP production had in all three cases similar values for the consumption of the main raw materials. The LCIA results obtained for the datasets showed important differences as well. Therefore we concluded that the European data in general lead to much higher environmental impacts than the Brazilian data. The differences between the LCIA results obtained with the Brazilian and the European data can be basically explained by the methodological differences underlying the data. The small differences at the LCI level for selected inputs and outputs between the Brazilian and the European LCIs from ecoinvent indicate that the latter can be regarded as applicable for characterizing the Brazilian TSP.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability > Unit Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management (LS-SLM)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > NCCR North-South Management Centre [discontinued]
10 Strategic Research Centers > Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

UniBE Contributor:

Hurni, Hans

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics

ISSN:

0195-9255

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:19

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:05

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.eiar.2009.08.007

Web of Science ID:

000278320500005

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.6098

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/6098 (FactScience: 210994)

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