Environmental impact assessment of man-made cellulose fibres and recycled polyester fibre

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1 Copernicus Institute Research Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation Environmental impact assessment of man-made cellulose fibres and recycled polyester fibre Dr. Li Shen LEI, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Formally Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University) [avnir] LCA in business Conference November 2011 Lille, France

2 Part I Comparative LCA of man-made cellulose fibres Published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling (2010) 55:

3 Why man-made cellulose fibres are interesting? Sources: USDA (2006), JCFA (2006), Ullmann (1997), Textile online library (2006) 35,000 30,000 25,000 World fibre production (kton) Cotton Synthetic (petro-based) Man-made cellulosic 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,

4 LCA of man-made cellulose fibres Goal: 1) assess the impacts of man-made cellulose fibres; 2) compare with cotton, PET and PP. Functional unit: 1 metric tonne of staple fibre System boundary: cradle-to-factory gate cradle-to-factory gate plus post-consumer waste incineration with energy recovery 4

5 Types of fibre and data sources Man-made cellulose fibres - Viscose Asia - Viscose Austria - Modal - Tencel - Tencel 2012 Lenzing data Cotton (US and China) PET and PP fibres (Western Europe) (PLA) Literature data 5

6 Viscose, Modal and Tencel Fibre name Pulp source Process Process energy Viscose Asia Market Pulp Separate production Local electricity, coal, gas, oil Viscose Austria Modal Lenzing Pulp Lenzing Pulp Integrated production Integrated production - Biomass - Energy from MSWI - Fossil fuels Tencel Tencel, 2012 Mixed Market pulp & Lenzing pulp Separate production - Biomass (30%) - Natural gas (70%) - Energy from MSWI (100%) 6

7 100 Net NREU (GJ/t fibre), Cradle-to-factory gate plus post-consumer waste incineration with energy recovery (recovery rate = 60% primary energy ) Cradle-to-factory gate Net NREU Net NREU, lower range Net NREU, higher range Cotton: Cotton (US&CN) PET (W.Europe) -29 PP (W.Europe) PLA fibre, with wind PLA fibre, without wind Recovered energy from waste incineration (energy recovery rate 60%) Lenzing Viscose Asia Tencel, Austria Lenzing Modal Tencel, Austria, 2012 Lenzing Viscose Austria 7

8 Environmental impact categories (CML) Cradle-to-factory gate, 1 tonne fibre (cotton = 100) 300% 250% 200% Cotton PET PP Lenzing Viscose Asia Lenzing Viscose Austria Lenzing Modal Tencel Austria Tencel Austria % 100% 50% 0% abiotic depletion ozone layer depletion human toxicity fresh water aquatic ecotox. terrestrial ecotoxicity photochemical oxidant formation acidification eutrophication 8

9 Single-score result (III) NOGEPA weighting factors (normalised to world) 1 tonne fibre, cradle-to-factory gate, cotton = NOGEPA Single-score points (First normalised to World 1995) Cotton (US&CN) Lenzing Viscose Asia PET fibre (W.EU) PP fibre (W.EU) Tencel, Austria Lenzing Modal Global warming Abiotic depletion Ozone layer depletion Human toxicity Fresh water ecotoxicity Terrestrial ecotoxicity Photochemical oxidation Acidification Eutrophication Lenzing Viscose Austria Tencel, Austria 2012 Weighting factors (NOGEPA) Climate Change 32 Abiotic depletion* 8 Ozone layer depletion 5 Human toxicity 16 Fresh water ecotoxicity 6 Terrestrial ecotoxicity 5 Photochemical oxidation 8 Acidification 6 Eutrophication 13 Total 99 Source: Huppes et al (2003), except for abiotic depletion (marked with *), which is not excluded by Huppes et al. and is determined based on own estimation. 9

10 Part II LCA of bottle-to-fibre (B2F) recycling Published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling (2010) 55:34-52.

11 Product systems (FU = 1 metric tonne of fibre) Product systems Type of fibre Location Data sources 1.Mechanical recycling 2. Semi-mechanical recycling 3. Back-to-oligomer (BHET) recycling 4. Back-to-monomer (DMT) recycling Staple W. Europe Company data Filament (POY) E. Asia Company data Filament (POY) E. Asia Company data Filament (POY) W.Europe Literature data Ref. Virgin PET fibre Staple/Filament W.Europe Literature data 11

12 Allocation: open-loop recycling Cut-off approach: The first life (bottle) does not have influence on the second life (fibre) Waste valuation approach: Bottle waste contains part of the burden from first life (economic allocation) System expansion approach: Do not distinguish first and second life, but do assume products from 1 st and 2 nd life are functional equivalent Do take into account the grave stage 12

13 Cradle-to-factory gate NREU & GWP100a based on the cut-off method NREU (GJ/t) GWP (kg CO 2 eq./t) ,062 GJ/t kg CO 2 eq./t ,880 2,590 3, Mech. recycling (staple) Semi-mech. recycling (POY) Chem. recycling (BHET route, POY) Chem. recycling (DMT route,poy) V-PET (W.EU, staple/poy) 0 Mech. recycling (staple) Semi-mech. recycling (POY) Chem. recycling (BHET route, POY) Chem. recycling (DMT route,poy) V-PET (W.EU, staple/poy) 13

14 Cradle-to-factory gate NREU & GWP100a Based on the waste valuation method NREU (GJ/t) GWP (kg CO 2 eq./t) NREU based on "cut-off"approach Shifted energy from the first life GWP based on cut-off approach Shifted GWP from the first life GJ/t Mech. recycling (staple) Semi-mech. recycling (POY) Chem. recycling (BHET route, POY) V-PET (W.EU, staple/poy) kg CO 2 eq./t Mech. recycling (staple) 1,070 1,070 1, Semi-mech. recycling (POY) Chem. recycling (BHET route, POY) 1,070 4,060 2,590 V-PET (W.EU, staple/poy) 14

15 NREU and GWP100a (cradle to grave excl. use phase) NREU (GJ/t) GWP (kg CO 2 eq./t) 79 VPET fibre RPET fibre Incineration with credits 5,540 Incineration with credits VPET fibre RPET fibre ,210 2,820 1,330 Virgin PET (staple&poy) Mechanical recycling (Staple) Semimechanical recycling (POY) Chemical recycling, back to BHET (POY) Virgin PET (staple&poy) Mechanical recycling (Staple) Semi-mechanical recycling (POY) Chemical recycling, back to BHET (POY) 15

16 Bio-based and recycled polymers for cleaner production An assessment of plastics and fibres