Chalmers Conferences, LCM 2013

ASSESSMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE REPLACEMENT OF ETHYLENE FROM FOSSIL BY RENEWABLE RESOURCE IN GPPS PRODUCTION
Adriana Petrella Hansen, Luiz Kulay

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


This study analyzed the environmental effects associated with the replacement of ethylene produced from natural gas by an equivalent asset obtained by sugarcane in the processing of chain General Purpose Polystyrene (GPPS). The analysis was performed through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique, which considered a cradle-to-gate approach for the production of 1.0 ton of GPPS according to the Brazilian operational condition. It was used ReCiPe – Midpoint (H) for the impact assessment. Consumptions of natural gas and crude oil influence significantly the environmental profile of fossil GPPS. Nevertheless, the agricultural activities required to renewable GPPS production resulted into increased environmental impacts of Climate Change, Agricultural Land Occupation, Human Toxicity, Freshwater Eutrophication and Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecotoxicity.

Keywords


Life Cycle Assessment; GPPS; renewable resource; ethylene

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