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The Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is a proven method for sustainability assessment. However, the interpretation phase of an LCSA is challenging because many different single results are obtained. Additionally, performing a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is one way—not only for LCSA—to gain clarity about how to interpret the results. One common form of MCDAs are outranking methods. For these type of methods it becomes of utmost importance to clarify when results become preferable. Thus, thresholds are commonly used to prevent decisions based on results that are actually indifferent between the analyzed options. In this paper, a new approach is presented to identify and quantify such thresholds for Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) based on uncertainty of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods. Common thresholds and this new approach are discussed using a case study on finding a preferred location for sustainable industrial hydrogen production, comparing three locations in European countries. The single LCSA results indicated different preferences for the environmental, economic and social assessment. The application of PROMETHEE helped to find a clear solution. The comparison of the newly-specified thresholds based on LCIA uncertainty with default thresholds provided important insights of how to interpret the LCSA results regarding industrial hydrogen production.
Christina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Setting Thresholds to Define Indifferences and Preferences in PROMETHEE for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of European Hydrogen Production. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7009 .
AMA StyleChristina Wulf, Petra Zapp, Andrea Schreiber, Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Setting Thresholds to Define Indifferences and Preferences in PROMETHEE for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of European Hydrogen Production. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7009.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. 2021. "Setting Thresholds to Define Indifferences and Preferences in PROMETHEE for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of European Hydrogen Production." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7009.
Rare earth elements (REEs) are one of the most important elements used for transformation of the fossil era into a decarbonized future. REEs are essential for wind, electric and hybrid vehicles, and low-energy lighting. However, there is a general understanding that REEs come along with multiple environmental problems during their extraction and processing. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-established method for a holistic evaluation of environmental effects of a product system considering the entire life cycle. This paper reviews LCA studies for determining the environmental impacts of rare earth oxide (REO) production from Bayan Obo and ion adsorption clays (IAC) in China, and shows why some studies lead to over- and underestimated results. We found out that current LCA studies of REE production provide a good overall understanding of the underlying process chains, which are mainly located in China. However, life cycle inventories (LCI) appear often not complete. Several lack accuracy, consistency, or transparency. Hence, resulting environmental impacts are subject to great uncertainty. This applies in particular to radioactivity and the handling of wastewater and slurry in tailing ponds, which have often been neglected. This article reviews 35 studies to identify suitable LCAs for comparison. The assessment covers the world’s largest REO production facility, located in Bayan Obo, as well as in-situ leaching of IACs in the Southern Provinces of China. A total of 12 studies are selected, 8 for Bayan Obo and IACs each. The LCIs of these studies are reviewed in detail. The effects of over- and underestimated LCIs on the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) are investigated. The partly controversial results of existing LCAs are analyzed thoroughly and discussed. Our results show that an increased consistency in LCA studies on REO production is needed.
Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp. Life Cycle Assessment studies of rare earths production - Findings from a systematic review. Science of The Total Environment 2021, 791, 148257 .
AMA StyleAndrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Petra Zapp. Life Cycle Assessment studies of rare earths production - Findings from a systematic review. Science of The Total Environment. 2021; 791 ():148257.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp. 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment studies of rare earths production - Findings from a systematic review." Science of The Total Environment 791, no. : 148257.
In the coming years, the demand for safe electrical energy storage devices with high energy density will increase drastically due to the electrification of the transportation sector and the need for stationary storage for renewable energies. Advanced battery concepts like all-solid-state batteries (ASBs) are considered one of the most promising candidates for future energy storage technologies. They offer several advantages over conventional Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs), especially with regard to stability, safety, and energy density. Hardly any recycling studies have been conducted, yet, but such examinations will play an important role when considering raw materials supply, sustainability of battery systems, CO2 footprint, and general strive towards a circular economy. Although different methods for recycling LIBs are already available, the transferability to ASBs is not straightforward due to differences in used materials and fabrication technologies, even if the chemistry does not change (e.g., Li-intercalation cathodes). Challenges in terms of the ceramic nature of the cell components and thus the necessity for specific recycling strategies are investigated here for the first time. As a major result, a recycling route based on inert shredding, a subsequent thermal treatment, and a sorting step is suggested, and transferring the extracted black mass to a dedicated hydrometallurgical recycling process is proposed. The hydrometallurgical approach is split into two scenarios differing in terms of solubility of the ASB-battery components. Hence, developing a full recycling concept is reached by this study, which will be experimentally examined in future research.
Lilian Schwich; Michael Küpers; Martin Finsterbusch; Andrea Schreiber; Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing; Olivier Guillon; Bernd Friedrich. Recycling Strategies for Ceramic All-Solid-State Batteries—Part I: Study on Possible Treatments in Contrast to Li-Ion Battery Recycling. Metals 2020, 10, 1523 .
AMA StyleLilian Schwich, Michael Küpers, Martin Finsterbusch, Andrea Schreiber, Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing, Olivier Guillon, Bernd Friedrich. Recycling Strategies for Ceramic All-Solid-State Batteries—Part I: Study on Possible Treatments in Contrast to Li-Ion Battery Recycling. Metals. 2020; 10 (11):1523.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLilian Schwich; Michael Küpers; Martin Finsterbusch; Andrea Schreiber; Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing; Olivier Guillon; Bernd Friedrich. 2020. "Recycling Strategies for Ceramic All-Solid-State Batteries—Part I: Study on Possible Treatments in Contrast to Li-Ion Battery Recycling." Metals 10, no. 11: 1523.
To achieve the European Union’s ambitious climate targets, not only the energy system must be transformed, but also other sectors such as industry or transport. Power-to-X (PtX) technologies enable the production of synthetic chemicals and energy carriers using renewable electricity, thus contributing to defossilization of economy. Additionally, they provide storage capacity for renewable energy. Detailed life cycle assessments (LCA) of PtX is required, to prove the environmental advantages to fossil-based benchmark technologies. An emerging PtX technology for syngas production is the high temperature co-electrolysis (HT-co-electrolysis), which produces syngas. Aim of this LCA is the evaluation of syngas production by HT-co-electrolysis at its early stage of development to derive incentives for further research. For comparison, a small-scale steam methane reforming process (SMR) serves as today’s fossil-based benchmark. The required CO2 is obtained via direct air capture. The by-far most important input for the HT-co-electrolysis is electricity. Hence, several future electricity mixes are considered, representing two different climate protection targets (CPT80, CPT95) for the energy system in 2050. For each CPT, an additional distinction is made regarding full load hours, which depend on the availability of renewable energy. The results show lower global warming potential (GWP) and fossil fuel depletion for HT-co-electrolysis compared to SMR if mostly renewable power is used. Exclusively renewable operated HT-co-electrolysis even achieve negative net GWPs in cradle-to-gate LCA without considering syngas use. If HT-co-electrolysis shall operate continuously (8,760 h) additional fossil electricity production is needed. For CPT80, the share of fossil electricity is too high to achieve negative net GWP in contrast to CPT95. Other environmental impacts such as human toxicity, acidification, particulate matter or metal depletion are worse in comparison to SMR. The share of direct air capture on the total environmental impacts is quite noticeable. Main reasons are high electricity and heat demands. Although plant construction contributes to a minor extent to most impact categories, a considerable decrease of cell lifetime due to higher degradation caused by flexible operation, would change that. Nevertheless, flexibility is one of the most important factors to apply PtX for defossilization successfully and reinforce detailed research to understand its impacts.
Andrea Schreiber; Andreas Peschel; Benjamin Hentschel; Petra Zapp. Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Syngas: Comparing High Temperature Co-Electrolysis and Steam Methane Reforming. Frontiers in Energy Research 2020, 8, 1 .
AMA StyleAndrea Schreiber, Andreas Peschel, Benjamin Hentschel, Petra Zapp. Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Syngas: Comparing High Temperature Co-Electrolysis and Steam Methane Reforming. Frontiers in Energy Research. 2020; 8 ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Schreiber; Andreas Peschel; Benjamin Hentschel; Petra Zapp. 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Syngas: Comparing High Temperature Co-Electrolysis and Steam Methane Reforming." Frontiers in Energy Research 8, no. : 1.
Rare earth elements are used in renewable energy generation techniques like wind turbines as well as in various high‐tech applications in the automobile industry, electrical engineering, optics, and catalyzers. Due to the environmentally harmful production of rare earths, they have been subject of life cycle assessment investigations in the past years. Most of these studies focus on rare earth oxide production. The subsequent reduction of rare earth oxides to the final metal in a molten salt electrolysis has significant environmental impacts especially on human toxicity. The main drivers are rare earth fluoride production and molten salt electrolysis. In this study, exemplarily a comparative life cycle assessment of neodymium oxide electrolysis in molten salt as well as various neodymium fluoride production processes is conducted. The different assumptions regarding inputs and outputs of the electrolysis process are discussed. Then, the impacts of the electrolysis processes modelled in different ways are analyzed in relation to the entire process chain to produce neodymium. The results show a share of the electrolysis process on the entire process chain varying from 9% – 82% depending on different assumptions. Based on this analysis, improvements for the electrolysis process are proposed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Neodymium Oxide Electrolysis in Molten Salt. Advanced Engineering Materials 2020, 22, 1 .
AMA StyleAndrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Petra Zapp, Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Neodymium Oxide Electrolysis in Molten Salt. Advanced Engineering Materials. 2020; 22 (6):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. 2020. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Neodymium Oxide Electrolysis in Molten Salt." Advanced Engineering Materials 22, no. 6: 1.
Wind turbines produce electricity with hardly any emissions during operation. Most environmental impacts are associated with their manufacture. This work performs a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of different 3 MW power class wind turbines at a fictive onshore site in Germany. The three most frequently installed onshore turbine types are considered: geared converter with doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), direct driven synchronous generator (DDSG) electrically excited and direct drive permanent magnet synchronous generator (DDPMSG). LCA reveals that environmental impacts are concentrated during manufacturing of fundament, tower and nacelle, which account for up to 19%, 30% and 99% of single impacts, respectively. Main drivers are the use of copper, steel and in case of DDPMSG also the rare earth permanent magnets. The DDSG shows higher impacts than the other wind turbines in 14 out of all 15 categories, due to the higher weight of its nacelle. Impacts due to operation add up to 3%.Four sensitivity analyses are conducted to estimate the effects of component replacement, recycling, origin of rare earths for permanent magnet production for DDPMSG and electricity yield. Possible recycling options show the highest improvement potential and even change turbine types ranking.
Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp. Comparative life cycle assessment of electricity generation by different wind turbine types. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 233, 561 -572.
AMA StyleAndrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Petra Zapp. Comparative life cycle assessment of electricity generation by different wind turbine types. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 233 ():561-572.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp. 2019. "Comparative life cycle assessment of electricity generation by different wind turbine types." Journal of Cleaner Production 233, no. : 561-572.
In this letter, we respond to the article by Wang et al. [2019] in this journal, Volume 210, which estimates the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of onshore and offshore wind turbines with the nominal capacity of 2 MW. The results show GHG emissions of 33278.19 t CO2-eq for onshore and 75904.84 t CO2-eq for offshore turbines for a 20-year lifetime. The results suggest that ‘transport and installation’ contributes most to the life-cycle GHG emissions (> 90%). This is contrary to many other LCA studies concerning wind power. We think that several serious mistakes have been made in the study, leading to completely wrong conclusions of the authors. We would like to clarify some of the results.
Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. Response to ‘Life-cycle green-house gas emissions of onshore and offshore wind turbines’. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 219, 33 -34.
AMA StyleJosefine Marx, Andrea Schreiber, Petra Zapp. Response to ‘Life-cycle green-house gas emissions of onshore and offshore wind turbines’. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 219 ():33-34.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJosefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. 2019. "Response to ‘Life-cycle green-house gas emissions of onshore and offshore wind turbines’." Journal of Cleaner Production 219, no. : 33-34.
Future energy systems with dominating shares of non-dispatchable renewable energy sources will be confronted with excess electricity generation. Power-to-Transport applications for passenger cars are a promising flexible consumer for utilisation of excess electricity instead of its curtailment. Goal of this article is to design and assess future Power-to-Transport chains with regard to their substitution potential of conventional passenger cars and accompanying environmental impacts. This analysis focuses on Germany in the year 2050 as one example for a future renewable dominated energy system. As technologies battery and fuel cell electric vehicles as well as synthetic natural gas vehicles with internal combustion engines are analysed. To guarantee fuel supply, energy storage options are taken into account. Results show that excess electricity input enables highest travelling distances for the battery electric vehicle. This trend continues in the results of the environmental performance of the Power-to-Transport chains. With the lowest environmental impacts in eleven out of 13 categories battery electric vehicles show the best environmental performance. Furthermore, a detailed assessment of contributions from individual stages of the Power-to-Transport chains to entire results revealed that the vehicle construction dominates the majority of impact categories.
Jan Christian Koj; Christina Wulf; Jochen Linssen; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. Utilisation of excess electricity in different Power-to-Transport chains and their environmental assessment. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 2018, 64, 23 -35.
AMA StyleJan Christian Koj, Christina Wulf, Jochen Linssen, Andrea Schreiber, Petra Zapp. Utilisation of excess electricity in different Power-to-Transport chains and their environmental assessment. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. 2018; 64 ():23-35.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJan Christian Koj; Christina Wulf; Jochen Linssen; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. 2018. "Utilisation of excess electricity in different Power-to-Transport chains and their environmental assessment." Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 64, no. : 23-35.
Neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium are rare earth elements often used in high performance magnets. Environmental impacts during the production of 1 kg neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnet from three major deposits are quantified using life cycle assessment (LCA). The scope of the assessment includes the largest rare earth oxide (REO) production in Bayan Obo (China), and the second largest from a mine in Mount Weld (Australia), and a third mine in Mountain Pass (US), that closed production in 2015. Consecutively impacts from metal refining and final magnet production are added. All environmental impacts of the magnet production life cycle are dominated by the production of rare earth components (50 – 99.9%). Using REOs from the American mine shows best overall environmental performance due to improved handling of chemicals. Biggest differences to the worst Chinese pathway can be found in freshwater and terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, particulate matter and human toxicity. The smallest differences are observed for climate change, resource depletion and marine eutrophication. For the first time an LCA for the three largest RE producers was performed under the same frame conditions and methodological assumptions. This approach is a step towards getting a consistent picture of environmental impacts.
Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp; Frank Walachowicz. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of NdFeB Permanent Magnet Production from Different Rare Earth Deposits. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2018, 6, 5858 -5867.
AMA StyleJosefine Marx, Andrea Schreiber, Petra Zapp, Frank Walachowicz. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of NdFeB Permanent Magnet Production from Different Rare Earth Deposits. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2018; 6 (5):5858-5867.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJosefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp; Frank Walachowicz. 2018. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of NdFeB Permanent Magnet Production from Different Rare Earth Deposits." ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 6, no. 5: 5858-5867.
Petra Zapp; Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Bernd Friedrich; Daniel Voßenkaul. Comparison of dysprosium production from different resources by life cycle assessment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2018, 130, 248 -259.
AMA StylePetra Zapp, Josefine Marx, Andrea Schreiber, Bernd Friedrich, Daniel Voßenkaul. Comparison of dysprosium production from different resources by life cycle assessment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 2018; 130 ():248-259.
Chicago/Turabian StylePetra Zapp; Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; Bernd Friedrich; Daniel Voßenkaul. 2018. "Comparison of dysprosium production from different resources by life cycle assessment." Resources, Conservation and Recycling 130, no. : 248-259.
Peter Stenzel; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Christina Wulf; Michael Schreieder; Lars Stephan. Environmental impacts of electricity generation for Graciosa Island, Azores. Journal of Energy Storage 2018, 15, 292 -303.
AMA StylePeter Stenzel, Andrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Christina Wulf, Michael Schreieder, Lars Stephan. Environmental impacts of electricity generation for Graciosa Island, Azores. Journal of Energy Storage. 2018; 15 ():292-303.
Chicago/Turabian StylePeter Stenzel; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Christina Wulf; Michael Schreieder; Lars Stephan. 2018. "Environmental impacts of electricity generation for Graciosa Island, Azores." Journal of Energy Storage 15, no. : 292-303.
Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) emerged as a methodology allowing a detailed representation of technologies in their processes from a life cycle perspective. To conduct a profound LCSA a plausible indicator selection is needed. From a Sustainability perspective, the currently dominant political framework is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. In this paper, LCSA indicators are selected based on the SDGs, comparing in a first approach the implication due to the selection based on overall goals and SDG indicators level. The applicability of this selection is tested by a case study of electrolytic hydrogen production. The analysis shows meaningful differences between the goal-based and the indicator-based assessment. Only the goal-based indicator set comprises all dimensions of sustainability.
Christina Wulf; Jasmin Werker; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Holger Schlör; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Sustainable Development Goals as a Guideline for Indicator Selection in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. Procedia CIRP 2018, 69, 59 -65.
AMA StyleChristina Wulf, Jasmin Werker, Petra Zapp, Andrea Schreiber, Holger Schlör, Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. Sustainable Development Goals as a Guideline for Indicator Selection in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. Procedia CIRP. 2018; 69 ():59-65.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristina Wulf; Jasmin Werker; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Holger Schlör; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs. 2018. "Sustainable Development Goals as a Guideline for Indicator Selection in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment." Procedia CIRP 69, no. : 59-65.
Peter Stenzel; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Christina Wulf; Michael Schreieder; Lars Stephan. Renewable energies for Graciosa Island, Azores – Life Cycle Assessment of electricity generation. Energy Procedia 2017, 135, 62 -74.
AMA StylePeter Stenzel, Andrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Christina Wulf, Michael Schreieder, Lars Stephan. Renewable energies for Graciosa Island, Azores – Life Cycle Assessment of electricity generation. Energy Procedia. 2017; 135 ():62-74.
Chicago/Turabian StylePeter Stenzel; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Christina Wulf; Michael Schreieder; Lars Stephan. 2017. "Renewable energies for Graciosa Island, Azores – Life Cycle Assessment of electricity generation." Energy Procedia 135, no. : 62-74.
Industrial hydrogen production via alkaline water electrolysis (AEL) is a mature hydrogen production method. One argument in favor of AEL when supplied with renewable energy is its environmental superiority against conventional fossil-based hydrogen production. However, today electricity from the national grid is widely utilized for industrial applications of AEL. Also, the ban on asbestos membranes led to a change in performance patterns, making a detailed assessment necessary. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using the GaBi software (version 6.115, thinkstep, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany), revealing inventory data and environmental impacts for industrial hydrogen production by latest AELs (6 MW, Zirfon membranes) in three different countries (Austria, Germany and Spain) with corresponding grid mixes. The results confirm the dependence of most environmental effects from the operation phase and specifically the site-dependent electricity mix. Construction of system components and the replacement of cell stacks make a minor contribution. At present, considering the three countries, AEL can be operated in the most environmentally friendly fashion in Austria. Concerning the construction of AEL plants the materials nickel and polytetrafluoroethylene in particular, used for cell manufacturing, revealed significant contributions to the environmental burden.
Jan Christian Koj; Christina Wulf; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis. Energies 2017, 10, 860 .
AMA StyleJan Christian Koj, Christina Wulf, Andrea Schreiber, Petra Zapp. Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis. Energies. 2017; 10 (7):860.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJan Christian Koj; Christina Wulf; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp. 2017. "Site-Dependent Environmental Impacts of Industrial Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis." Energies 10, no. 7: 860.
In order to address methodological challenges during life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), this article combines the results of a life cycle assessment (LCA), a life cycle costing, and a social LCA using the example of a complex product: a rare earth permanent magnet for use in wind turbines. The article presents different approaches for combining the results of separate assessments with its attendant methodological challenges. Different normalization, aggregation methods, and weighing factors are applied and their impacts on the results are compared. The underlying case study makes an evaluation of these different methodologies more concrete. Results show that the normalization method applied has a greater influence on the overall results than the aggregation method or weighting factors. Additionally, this study shows that indifference thresholds should be applied to avoid overestimation of small impacts. Indifference thresholds ensure that impact categories with nearly the same results for all analyzed options are treated as identical results. The study also indicates the importance of the question of how much compensation between impacts is desirable. Despite the impact of these factors, the chosen case study of an LCSA for permanent magnets with different supply routes for rare earths shows that the ranking of Chinese production is the most problematic irrespective of the approaches applied.
Christina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Holger Schlör. Lessons Learned from a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Rare Earth Permanent Magnets. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2017, 21, 1578 -1590.
AMA StyleChristina Wulf, Petra Zapp, Andrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Holger Schlör. Lessons Learned from a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Rare Earth Permanent Magnets. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2017; 21 (6):1578-1590.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Holger Schlör. 2017. "Lessons Learned from a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Rare Earth Permanent Magnets." Journal of Industrial Ecology 21, no. 6: 1578-1590.
This paper compares the sustainability of pressurized alkaline water electrolysis systems operating atdifferent places in Europe (Austria, Germany and Spain). Using a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment(LCSA) approach, an advanced electrolysis system (6 MW) based on Zirfon membranes is investigated.Results of Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and social Life Cycle Assessment plus subsequentnormalizing, weighting, and aggregation in LCSA are assessed. A closer look reveals that the choice ofweighting concept has a crucial impact on results. As main outcome, the comparison illustrates thathydrogen production via electrolysis in Germany performs best if weak sustainability (equal weighting ofdimensions) is assessed. Using the strong sustainability concept (considering only environmental results)Germany yields worst results mostly due to the environmental impacts of its electricity generation
Jürgen-Friedrich Hake; Jan Christian Koj; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs; Holger Schlör; Andrea Schreiber; Christina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Thomas Ketelaer. Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Alkaline Water Electrolysis. Energy Procedia 2017, 105, 3403 -3410.
AMA StyleJürgen-Friedrich Hake, Jan Christian Koj, Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs, Holger Schlör, Andrea Schreiber, Christina Wulf, Petra Zapp, Thomas Ketelaer. Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Alkaline Water Electrolysis. Energy Procedia. 2017; 105 ():3403-3410.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJürgen-Friedrich Hake; Jan Christian Koj; Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs; Holger Schlör; Andrea Schreiber; Christina Wulf; Petra Zapp; Thomas Ketelaer. 2017. "Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Alkaline Water Electrolysis." Energy Procedia 105, no. : 3403-3410.
Neodymium and dysprosium are two rare earth elements (REEs), out of a group of 17 elements. Due to their unique properties, REEs gained increasing importance in many new technologies, like wind turbines, batteries, etc. However, the production of REEs requires high material and energy consumption and is associated with considerable environmental burdens. Due to the strong dependency of European industry on Chinese REE exports, this paper presents a possible European production chain of REEs based on the mineral eudialyte found in Norra Kärr (Sweden). This European production is compared to a Chinese route, as China produces more than 85% of today’s REEs. Bayan Obo as the largest REE deposit in China is considered as the reference system. Using the life cycle assessment method, the environmental impacts of both production lines are assessed. This study presents newly-estimated data of a possible Swedish eudialyte-based production route for Europe. Results for the new eudialyte process route show reduced environmental burdens, although the total REE content in eudialyte is much smaller than in the Bayan Obo deposit. Especially, the results for dysprosium from eudialyte outreach those for Bayan Obo due to the higher content of heavy rare earth elements.
Andrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp; Jürgen-Friedrich Hake; Daniel Voßenkaul; Bernd Friedrich. Environmental Impacts of Rare Earth Mining and Separation Based on Eudialyte: A New European Way. Resources 2016, 5, 32 .
AMA StyleAndrea Schreiber, Josefine Marx, Petra Zapp, Jürgen-Friedrich Hake, Daniel Voßenkaul, Bernd Friedrich. Environmental Impacts of Rare Earth Mining and Separation Based on Eudialyte: A New European Way. Resources. 2016; 5 (4):32.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Schreiber; Josefine Marx; Petra Zapp; Jürgen-Friedrich Hake; Daniel Voßenkaul; Bernd Friedrich. 2016. "Environmental Impacts of Rare Earth Mining and Separation Based on Eudialyte: A New European Way." Resources 5, no. 4: 32.
In this investigation the environmental impacts of the manufacturing processes of a new all-solid-state battery (SSB) concept in a pouch bag housing were assessed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for the first time. To do so, the different production steps were investigated in detail, based on actual laboratory scale production processes. All in- and outputs regarding material and energy flows were collected and assessed. As LCA investigations of products in an early state of research and development usually result in comparatively higher results than those of mature technologies in most impact categories, potential future improvements of production processes and efficiency were considered by adding two concepts to the investigation. Apart from the laboratory production which depicts the current workflow, an idealized laboratory production and a possible industrial production were portrayed as well.The results indicate that electricity consumption plays a big role due to a lot of high temperature production steps. It needs to be improved for future industrial production. Also enhanced battery performance can strongly influence the results. Overall the laboratory scale results indeed improve strongly when assuming a careful use of resources, which will likely be a predominant target for industrial production. These findings therefore highlight hotspots and give improvement targets for future developments. It can also be deducted, that a comparison to the results of competing technologies that have already reached a commercial stage is not recommended for early LCAs.To round things off a resource analysis was also conducted. It identifies the usage of lanthanum, lithium and zirconium oxide as critical, especially when taking laboratory production as a base. When looking at the scale up to industrial production parameters, lanthanum and lithium remain critical, zirconium oxide not
Stefanie Troy; Andrea Schreiber; Thorsten Reppert; Hans-Gregor Gehrke; Martin Finsterbusch; Sven Uhlenbruck; Peter Stenzel. Life Cycle Assessment and resource analysis of all-solid-state batteries. Applied Energy 2016, 169, 757 -767.
AMA StyleStefanie Troy, Andrea Schreiber, Thorsten Reppert, Hans-Gregor Gehrke, Martin Finsterbusch, Sven Uhlenbruck, Peter Stenzel. Life Cycle Assessment and resource analysis of all-solid-state batteries. Applied Energy. 2016; 169 ():757-767.
Chicago/Turabian StyleStefanie Troy; Andrea Schreiber; Thorsten Reppert; Hans-Gregor Gehrke; Martin Finsterbusch; Sven Uhlenbruck; Peter Stenzel. 2016. "Life Cycle Assessment and resource analysis of all-solid-state batteries." Applied Energy 169, no. : 757-767.
The Rio +20 conference in 2012 confirmed not only the sustainability concept as the new development goal but also introduced the green economy as its implementation strategy and the life cycle assessment (LCA) as one of its analysis tools to reveal the current production and consumption patterns which affect human well-being.Human well-being therefore has to be defined. We describe human well-being using the capability approach of Amartya Sen. Current production and consumption patterns have an influence on human well-being, on people's functioning and capabilities. Consumption patterns alter and the energy sector is in Germany at the centre of that process. Renewable energy technologies are seen as instruments for a transformation of the energy system, causing non-renewable (mineral) resources such as the rare earth elements to be of high significance for the transformation. To analyse social conditions (human well-being) throughout the life cycle of the product we focused on five major functionings (welfare basis, health & safety, social participation, democracy & freedom, decent life) and assigned 24 impact issues to them to enable an assessment of the social effects of the rare earth production along the whole process chain.The analysis of social impacts of the production of the rare earth elements using S-LCA is developed to illustrate the connection between the S-LCA and the capability approach – Amartya Sen's concept of human well-being
H. Schlor; Petra Zapp; Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; J.-F. Hake. Non-renewable Resources for the Energiewende – A Social Life Cycle Analysis. Energy Procedia 2015, 75, 2878 -2883.
AMA StyleH. Schlor, Petra Zapp, Josefine Marx, Andrea Schreiber, J.-F. Hake. Non-renewable Resources for the Energiewende – A Social Life Cycle Analysis. Energy Procedia. 2015; 75 ():2878-2883.
Chicago/Turabian StyleH. Schlor; Petra Zapp; Josefine Marx; Andrea Schreiber; J.-F. Hake. 2015. "Non-renewable Resources for the Energiewende – A Social Life Cycle Analysis." Energy Procedia 75, no. : 2878-2883.
This paper investigates environmental impacts of high pressure alkaline water electrolysis systems. An advanced system with membranes on polymer basis is compared to a state-of-the-art system with asbestos membranes using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. For the advanced system, a new improved membrane technology has been investigated within the EU research project “ELYGRID”. Results indicate that most environmental impacts are caused by the electricity supply necessary for operation. During the construction phase cell stacks are the main contributor to environmental impacts. New improved membranes have relatively small contributions to impacts caused by cell construction within the advanced systems. As main outcome the systems comparison illustrates a better ecological performance of the new developed system
Jan Christian Koj; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp; Pablo Marcuello. Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis. Energy Procedia 2015, 75, 2871 -2877.
AMA StyleJan Christian Koj, Andrea Schreiber, Petra Zapp, Pablo Marcuello. Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis. Energy Procedia. 2015; 75 ():2871-2877.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJan Christian Koj; Andrea Schreiber; Petra Zapp; Pablo Marcuello. 2015. "Life Cycle Assessment of Improved High Pressure Alkaline Electrolysis." Energy Procedia 75, no. : 2871-2877.