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Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment
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Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 12981

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Simon Glöser-Chahoud

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Hertzstrasse 16, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany
Interests: circular economy; industrial ecology; technoeconomic and ecological evaluation of industrial processes or value chains; life cycle assessment; material and substance flow analysis
Dr. Vanessa Bach

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Interests: life cycle impact assessment; resource use; criticality; water foot-printing; LCA case studies; decarbonization; climate neutrality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Against the background of continuously increasing human consumption of natural resources and associated environmental impacts, the scientific field of industrial ecology has gained growing attention since the beginning of the 21st century. Inspired by the principles of the natural ecosystem, the goal is to use waste streams of one industrial process as input for other processes, minimizing the losses of substances to the environment (Frosch und Gallopoulos 1989). This idea of eco-industrial metabolism is extended by the circular economy framework focusing on aspects of product and material cycles, waste reduction, product lifetime extension, reuse and subsequent recycling (Blomsma und Brennan 2017). Recent research emphasizes the materials, energy, water, and emissions nexus (Masanet et al. 2021; Elshkaki 2019), drawing attention to a broad range of environmental impacts including climate change, land and water stress, resource depletion, or human and eco-toxicity (Finkbeiner et al. 2014). This fosters the need for connecting concepts of circular economy and industrial symbiosis with methods from the field of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Technological developments such as the ongoing digitalization create new opportunities for industrial symbiosis and the circular economy by increasing material traceability or by providing life cycle information that is relevant for EoL treatment (van Schalkwyk et al. 2018). However, the ecological benefits of these approaches regarding the reduction of environmental impacts often remain unclear and are not explicitly quantified. This research gap shall be addressed by this Special Issue on “Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impacts and Life Cycle Assessment”.

This Special Issue focuses on current research and innovative approaches aiming at assessing the environmental impacts of innovative circular economy and industrial ecology strategies. Contributions may address but are not restricted to the following aspects:

  • Approaches and methods for assessing environmental impacts in the context of industrial symbiosis and circular economy;
  • Efficiency measures and their environmental impacts considering the materials, energy, emissions nexus;
  • Ecological analysis of digital innovations such as blockchain technology for increasing transparency and traceability along circular value chains;
  • Case studies assessing the environmental footprint of circular economy strategies, including aspects of reuse (refurbishment, remanufacturing) and recycling;
  • LCIA case studies of urban–industrial symbiosis and innovative concepts for exhaust energy and waste management;
  • Trade-offs between mitigation of environmental emissions/impacts and economic benefits;
  • Trade-offs between different impact categories such as climate change (GWP) and land or water stress, etc.;
  • Effects of product reuse and lifetime extensions on environmental impacts.

Dr. Simon Glöser-Chahoud
Dr. Vanessa Bach
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • industrial ecology
  • circular economy
  • life cycle impact assessment
  • digitalization in the circular economy
  • life cycle data management
  • material traceability
  • environmental footprint

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1965 KiB  
Article
Environmental Impacts of Specific Recyclates in European Battery Regulatory-Compliant Lithium-Ion Cell Manufacturing
by Leonard Kurz, Simeon Forster, Ralf Wörner and Frederik Reichert
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010103 - 21 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1746
Abstract
Since environmental benefits and supply chain resilience are commonly assumed for circular economy strategies, this study tests this hypothesis in the context of lithium-ion battery recycling and cell manufacturing. Therefore, the use of recyclates from different cathode active materials and from different recycling [...] Read more.
Since environmental benefits and supply chain resilience are commonly assumed for circular economy strategies, this study tests this hypothesis in the context of lithium-ion battery recycling and cell manufacturing. Therefore, the use of recyclates from different cathode active materials and from different recycling routes, namely hydrometallurgy and direct recycling, in a subsequent cell production is modelled with the recyclate quotas prescribed by the amended European Battery Regulation and analysed using life cycle assessment methodology. This study concludes that both, negative and positive environmental impacts can be achieved by the usage of recyclates, depended on the cell technology and the recycling process chosen. Newly constructed lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells using a share of 11.3% of recyclates, which are obtained from LFP cells by a hydrometallurgical process, achieve a deterioration in the ecology by 7.5% for the global warming potential (GWP) compared to LFP cells without any recyclate share at all. For the same recyclate quota scenario, hydrometallurgical recyclates from lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide cells (NMC), on the other hand, achieve savings in GWP of up to 1.2%. Recyclates from direct recycling achieve savings in GWP for LPF and NMC of a maximum of 6.3% and 12.3%, by using a recyclate share of 20%. It can be seen that circular economy can raise large savings potentials ecologically, but can also have a contrary effect if not properly applied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment)
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23 pages, 31791 KiB  
Article
Designing a Recycling Network for the Circular Economy of Plastics with Different Multi-Criteria Optimization Approaches
by Christoph Stallkamp, Justus Steins, Manuel Ruck, Rebekka Volk and Frank Schultmann
Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10913; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710913 - 01 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2265
Abstract
A growing plastic production increases the pressure on waste management systems, which have to cope with greater volumes of plastic waste. Increased plastics recycling can reduce environmental impacts by lowering the need for primary plastics production and thus fossil resources demand. Current research [...] Read more.
A growing plastic production increases the pressure on waste management systems, which have to cope with greater volumes of plastic waste. Increased plastics recycling can reduce environmental impacts by lowering the need for primary plastics production and thus fossil resources demand. Current research is mainly focused on identifying environmentally friendly recycling technologies for different waste streams. However, recycling capacities must also be expanded to handle the waste generated. Therefore, this paper develops multiple exemplary multi-criteria optimization models to design an optimal recycling network. The models are deployed in a case study for plastic packaging waste in Europe for an advanced mechanical recycling process. We compare the different multi-criteria optimization approaches, how they balance environmental and economic aspects differently, and how this affects the recycling network design. Finally, we compare the optimization approaches and find goal programming the most promising approach for recycling network design that ensures a balance between economic and environmental objectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment)
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19 pages, 1368 KiB  
Article
Relevance of Impact Categories and Applicability of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods from an Automotive Industry Perspective
by Natalia Mikosch, Tina Dettmer, Benjamin Plaga, Marko Gernuks and Matthias Finkbeiner
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8837; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148837 - 19 Jul 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3747
Abstract
Climate change impacts have been extensively addressed in academia, politics and industry for decades. However, particularly within the scientific community, the importance of considering further impact categories to ensure holistic environmental assessment and avoid burden shifting is strongly emphasized. Since considering all impact [...] Read more.
Climate change impacts have been extensively addressed in academia, politics and industry for decades. However, particularly within the scientific community, the importance of considering further impact categories to ensure holistic environmental assessment and avoid burden shifting is strongly emphasized. Since considering all impact categories might become overwhelming for industry, a prioritization approach can support practitioners to focus their efforts on the most relevant impacts. Therefore, within this paper, an approach for the identification of relevant impact categories is developed for the automotive sector together with Volkswagen AG. The evaluation is conducted using a criteria set including criteria groups “relevance for automotive sector” and “relevance for stakeholders”. For the impact categories identified as relevant, an evaluation of LCIA methods is conducted considering the methodologies CML and ReCiPe 2016 and the methods recommended by PEF. The results demonstrate that climate change is by far the most relevant impact category followed by resource use, human toxicity and ecotoxicity from both automotive and stakeholder perspective. Based on the evaluation of the LCIA methods, a combination of different methods can be recommended. This work provides guidance for the automotive sector to prioritize its focus on the most relevant impact categories and to select applicable LCIA methods for their quantification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment)
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Review

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26 pages, 3796 KiB  
Review
How to Simplify Life Cycle Assessment for Industrial Applications—A Comprehensive Review
by Steffen Kiemel, Chantal Rietdorf, Maximilian Schutzbach and Robert Miehe
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15704; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315704 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3779
Abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has established itself as the dominant method for identifying the environmental impact of products or services. However, conducting an LCA is labor and time intensive (especially regarding data collection). This paper, therefore, aims to identify methods and tools that [...] Read more.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has established itself as the dominant method for identifying the environmental impact of products or services. However, conducting an LCA is labor and time intensive (especially regarding data collection). This paper, therefore, aims to identify methods and tools that enhance the practicability of LCA, especially with regard to product complexity and variance. To this end, an initial literature review on the LCA of complex products was conducted to identify commonly cited barriers and potential solutions. The obtained information was used to derive search strategies for a subsequent comprehensive and systematic literature review of approaches that address the identified barriers and facilitate the LCA process. We identified five approaches to address the barriers of time and effort, complexity, and data intensity. These are the parametric approach, modular approach, automation, aggregation/grouping, and screening. For each, the concept as well as the associated advantages and disadvantages are described. Especially, the automated calculation of results as well as the automated generation of life cycle inventory (LCI) data exhibit great potential for simplification. We provide an overview of common LCA software and databases and evaluate the respective interfaces. As it was not considered in detail, further research should address options for automated data collection in production by utilizing sensors and intelligent interconnection of production infrastructure as well as the interpretation of the acquired data using artificial intelligence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial Ecology Strategies: Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment)
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