Linking Data Choices and Context Specificity in Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Treatment Technologies: A Landfill Case Study

Journal of Industrial Ecology

Volumn 22, Issue 5, 2018, Pages 1039-1049

  Henriksen, Trine ^a   Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard ^a   Damgaard, Anders ^a  

^a TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DENMARK   (Denmark)

Author keywords

data choices; goal and scope definition; life cycle assessment (LCA); representativeness; waste management; waste treatment technologies

Indexed keywords

GAS PERMEABILITY; LAND FILL; LIFE CYCLE; WASTE MANAGEMENT;

DATA CHOICES; GOAL AND SCOPE DEFINITION; LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA); REPRESENTATIVENESS; TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES;

WASTE TREATMENT;

EMISSION INVENTORY; ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY; LANDFILL; LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS; PERMEABILITY; WASTE TREATMENT;

EID: 85034638995     PISSN: 10881980     EISSN: 15309290     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12709     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Astrup, T., D. Tonini, R. Turconi, and A. Boldrin. 2014. Life cycle assessment of thermal waste-to-energy technologies: Review and recommendations. Waste Management 37: 104–115.
2. Bawden, K. R., E. D. Williams, and C. W. Babbitt. 2016. Mapping product knowledge to life cycle inventory bounds: A case study of steel manufacturing. Journal of Cleaner Production 113: 557–564.
3. Behnke, K. 2006. Notat om deklaration af fremtidigt elforbrug [Memorandum on the future electricity consumption] (in Danish). Fredericia, Denmark: energinet.dk, under Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate.
4. Bisinella, V., K. Conradsen, T. H. Christensen, and T. F. Astrup. 2016. A global approach for sparse representation of uncertainty in life cycle assessments of waste management systems. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 21(3): 378–394.
5. Björklund, A. 2002. Survey of approaches to improve reliability in LCA. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 7(2): 64–72.
6. Brandão, M., A. Levasseur, M. U. F. Kirschbaum, B. P. Weidema, A. L. Cowie, S. V. Jørgensen, M. Z. Hauschild, D. W. Pennington, and K. Chomkhamsri. 2013. Key issues and options in accounting for carbon sequestration and temporary storage in life cycle assessment and carbon footprinting. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 18(1): 230–240.
7. Canals, L. M. I., A. Azapagic, G. Doka, D. Jefferies, H. King, C. Mutel, T. Nemecek, et al. 2011. Approaches for addressing life cycle assessment data gaps for bio-based products. Journal of Industrial Ecology 15(5): 707–725.
8. Christensen, T. H. 2011. Solid waste technology and management, edited by T. H. Christensen, 2nd ed. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
9. Ciroth, A., S. Muller, and B. Weidema. 2013. Empirically based uncertainty factors for the pedigree matrix in ecoinvent. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 21(9):1338–1348.
10. Clavreul, J., H. Baumeister, T. H. Christensen, and A. Damgaard. 2014. An environmental assessment system for environmental technologies. Environmental Modeling & Software 60: 18–30.
11. Clavreul, J., D. Guyonnet, D. Tonini, and T. H. Christensen. 2013. Stochastic and epistemic uncertainty propagation in LCA. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 18(7): 1393–1403.
12. Damgaard, A., C. Riber, T. Fruergaard, T. Hulgaard, and T. H. Christensen. 2010. Life-cycle-assessment of the historical development of air pollution control and energy recovery in waste incineration. Waste Management 30(7): 1244–1250.
13. DONG Energy. 2007a. Esbjergværket. Grønt regnskab 2006 [Esbjerg power plant. Green Account 2006] (in Danish). Esbjerg, Denmark: DONG Energy.
14. DONG Energy. 2007b. Asnæsværket. Grønt regnskab 2006 [Asnæs power plant. Green Account 2006] (in Danish). Kalundborg, Denmark: DONG Energy.
15. DONG Energy. 2007c. Stigsnæsværket. Grønt regnskab 2006 (Stigsnæs power plant. Green Account 2006] (in Danish). Stigsnæs, Denmark: DONG Energy.
16. ecoinvent. 2015. ecoinvent Database. www.ecoinvent.org. Accessed 9 March 2017.
17. ELCD (European Life Cycle Database). 2017. ELCD Database. http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ELCD3/. Accessed 9 March 2017.
18. Energistyrelsen. 2012. Forudsætninger for samfundsøkonomiske analyser på energiområdet [Preconditions for economic analyses of energy systems]. Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Energy Agency.
19. European Commission. 2010. International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) handbook: Analysing of existing environmental impact assessment methodologies for use in life cycle assessment. European Commission-Joint Research Centre-Institute for Environment and Sustainability. Ispra, Italy: European Commission.
20. Gentil, E. C., A. Damgaard, M. Hauschild, G. Finnveden, O. Eriksson, S. Thorneloe, P. O. Kaplan, et al. 2010. Models for waste life cycle assessment: Review of technical assumptions. Waste Management 30(12): 2636–2648.
21. Gregory, J. R., A. Noshadravan, E. A. Olivetti, and R. E. Kirchain. 2016. A methodology for robust comparative life cycle assessments incorporating uncertainty. Environmental Science & Technology 50(12): 6397–6405.
22. Harst, E. Van der and J. Potting. 2014. Variation in LCA results for disposable polystyrene beverage cups due to multiple data sets and modeling choices. Environmental Modeling and Software 51: 123–135.
23. Heijungs, R. 1996. Identification of key issues for further investigation in improving the reliability of life-cycle assessments. Journal of Cleaner Production 4(3–4): 159–166.
24. Heijungs, R. and M. A. J. Huijbregts. 2004. A review of approaches to treat uncertainty in LCA. In iEMSs 2004 International Congress:. www.iemss.org/iemss2004/pdf/lca/heijarev.pdf. Accessed 24 July 2017.
25. Heijungs, R. and R. Kleijn. 2001. Numerical approaches towards life cycle interpretation. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 6(3): 141–148.
26. Henriksson, P. J. G., J. B. Guinée, R. Heijungs, A. De Koning, and D. M. Green. 2013. A protocol for horizontal averaging of unit process data—Including estimates for uncertainty. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19(2): 429–436.
27. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2007. Climate change 2007: Synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC.
28. ISO (International Organization for Standardization). 2006. ISO 14044—Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Requirements and guidelines. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC.
29. Laurent, A., J. Clavreul, A. Bernstad, I. Bakas, M. Niero, E. Gentil, T. H. Christensen, and M. Z. Hauschild. 2014. Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems—Part II: Methodological guidance for a better practice. Waste Management 34(3): 589–606.
30. Levis, J. W. and M. Barlaz. 2011. Is biodegradability a desirable attribute for discarded solid waste? Environmental Science & Technology 45(13): 5470–5476.
31. Lloyd, S. M. and R. Ries. 2007. Characterizing, propagating and analyzing uncertainty in life-cycle assessment—A survey of quantitative approaches. Journal of Industrial Ecology 11(1): 161–179.
32. Manfredi, S., D. Tonini, and T. H. Christensen. 2010. Contribution of individual waste fractions to the environmental impacts from landfilling of municipal solid waste. Waste Management 30(3): 433–440.
33. Manfredi, S., D. Tonini, T. H. Christensen, and H. Scharff. 2009. Landfilling of waste: Accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste Management & Research 27(8): 825–836.
34. Meron, N., V. Blass, Y. Garb, Y. Kahane, and G. Thoma. 2016. Why going beyond standard LCI databases is important: Lessons from a meta-analysis of potable water supply system LCAs. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 21(8): 1134–1147.
35. Merrild, H., A. Damgaard, and T. H. Christensen. 2008. Life cycle assessment of waste paper management: The importance of technology data and system boundaries in assessing recycling and incineration. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 52(12): 1391–1398.
36. Møller, J., M. Jensen, M. Kromann, T. Lund Neidel, J. Bjørn Jakobsen, B. Jakobsen, and J. Møller. 2013. Miljø-og samfundsøkonomisk vurdering af muligheder for øget genanvendelse af papir, pap, plast, metal og organisk affald fra dagrenovation [Environmental and economic assessment of potentials for enhanced recycling of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, and organic waste from households]. Miljøprojekt 1458. Miljøprojekt Nr. 1458. Miljøministeriet. Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
37. Olivetti, E., S. Patanavanich, and R. Kirchain. 2013. Exploring the viability of probabilistic under-specification to streamline life cycle assessment. Environmental Science & Technology 47(10): 5208–5216.
38. Riber, C., C. Petersen, and T. H. Christensen. 2009. Chemical composition of material fractions in Danish household waste. Waste Management 29(4): 1251–1257.
39. Rosenbaum, R. K., T. M. Bachmann, L. S. Gold, M. A. J. Huijbregts, O. Jolliet, R. Juraske, A. Koehler, et al. 2008. USEtox—The UNEP-SETEC toxicity model: Recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 13(7): 532–546.
40. Smet, B. D. and M. Stalmans. 1996. LCI data and data quality—Thoughts and considerations. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 1(2): 96–104.
41. UNEP (United Nations Environment Program). 2011. Global guidance principles for life cycle assessment databases. Paris: SETAC Press.
42. Weidema, B. P. and M. S. Wesnæs. 1996. Data quality management for life cycle inventories—An example of using data quality indicators. Journal of Cleaner Production 4(3–4): 167–174.
43. Yang, N., A. Damgaard, P. Kjeldsen, L.-M. Shao, and P.-J. He. 2015. Quantification of regional leachate variance from municipal solid waste landfills in China. Waste Management 46(4): 362–372.