Course: Life Cycle Assessment (2020)

Life Cycle Assessment (2020)

Teaching Faculty

Jonathan Albo Sánchez

Antonio Domínguez Ramos

María Margallo Blanco

Javier Pinedo Alonso

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a well-known methodology applied to products, processes and services which considers its full life cycle: from the cradle (as natural resources) to the grave (as air emissions, liquid effluents and solid wastes).

The course covers all aspects about how to perform an LCA study: definition of the goal and scope as well as the target audience, gathering data on resource consumption and emissions, burdens to the environment, checking the robustness and significance of results and conclusions, and reporting and reviewing to ensure transparency and quality.

This LCA course includes LCA fundamentals as well as practical activities based on LCA projects. For project development, the students learn how to use openLCA, which is an open-source and free software for Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment.

Keywords

Sustainable Development; LCA concept; Life cycle thinking; Goal and Scope definition, Inventory; Impact Assessment; Interpretation.

Course Details

Course Information

Course: Life Cycle Assessment
Code: G799
Department / Unit: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
Degree: Degree in Chemical Engineering
Faculty: School of Industrial Engineering and Telecommunications
ECTS credits: 6
Language of instruction: English
Instructors: Jonathan Albo Sánchez, Antonio Domínguez Ramos, María Margallo Blanco, Javier Pinedo Alonso

Course structure

Unit 1. Life Cycle Assessment fundamentals

1.1. Sustainable Development
1.2. Development of the LCA concept
1.3. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment
1.4. Europe 2020
1.5. Life Cycle Thinking

Unit 2. Life Cycle Assessment methodology

2.1. Goal and Scope definition
2.2. Life Cycle Inventory
2.3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment
2.4. Interpretation

Unit 3. Practical activities

3.1. Applied LCA problems
3.2. Project with openLCA

Readings

Required reading list

R. Horne, T. Grant, K.Verghese, Life Cycle Assessment: Principles, Practice and Prospects. Ed. CSIRO Publishing, (2009).
A. Azapagic, R. Clift, S. Perdan, Sustainable Development in Practice: Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists. Ed. John Wiley and Sons, (2004).
H. Baumann, A.M. Tillman, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to LCA, Ed. Studentlitteratur, (2004).
M.A. Curran, Life Cycle Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Environmentally Sustainable Products. Ed. Wiley-Scrivener, (2012).
A. Ciroth, C. Di Noi, T. Lohse, M. Srocka. OpenLCA 1.9 Comprehensive User Manual, (2019). http://www.openlca.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/openLCA-1-9_User-Manual.pdf

Additional reading

UNE-EN ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and framework (ISO 14040:2006).
UNE-EN ISO 14044:2006, Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Requirements and guidelines (ISO 14044:2006
A. Aranda Usón, I. Zabalza Bribián. Ecodiseño y Analisis de Ciclo de Vida. Ed. Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza (2010).

Lecture Notes

MC-F-001. Unit 1. Fundamentals
MC-F-002. Unit 2. Methodology

Practical Classes

Applied LCA problems

PR-F-001. Task 1. Goal and scope
PR-F-002. Task 1. Goal and scope (solution)
PR-F-003. Task 2. Cut-off
PR-F-004. Task 2. Cut-off (solution)
PR-F-005. Task 3. LCIA
PR-F-006. Task 3. LCIA (solution)
PR-F-007. Case study. Soya production
PR-F-008. Case study. Soya production (solution: .xls)

Project with openLCA

PR-F-009. Project openLCA
PR-F-010. Project openLCA (solution: .zolca)

Assessment

Assessment criteria

ASSESSMENT METHODS AND CRITERIA "LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT"
Description	Typology	Final assessment	Reassessment	%
Exam. corresponding to the lectures	Written exam	No	Yes	50%
Minimum mark: 5,00. Duration: 2 hours Date: After completing the lectures 1 & 2 Retake conditions: Final exam in June and/or September Comments: The september retake exam is only for those students who did not pass the June exam
Final report of the group project	Report	No	Yes	20%
Minimum mark: 0,00. Duration: Date: At the end of the course Retake conditions: Final exam in June and/or September Comments: The september retake exam is only for those students who did not pass the June exam
Final oral defense of the group project	Oral exam	No	Yes	25%
Minimum mark: 0,00. Duration: To be determined Date: At the end of the course Retake conditions: Final exam in June and/or September Comments: The september retake exam is only for those students who did not pass the June exam
Intermediate oral defense of the group project	Oral exam	No	Yes	5%
Minimum mark: 0,00. Duration: To be determined Date: During the course Retake conditions: Final exam in June and/or September Comments: The september retake exam is only for those students who did not pass the June exam
TOTAL				100%
COMMENTS: Attendance is strongly recommended to the students. The individual contribution of each student to the group project will be checked in the oral defense of the project during the practical activities. If the final mark from the test and the group project is below the minimum mark (5.00), the student can pass a retake exam in June (date determined by the ETSIIyT board). An additional retake exam is possible in September (date determined by the ETSIIyT board).
Part-time students COMMENTS: Partial time students can pass the course thanks to the exam corresponding to the lectures that will be taken place before the start of the group projects. A retake exam is possible in June in a date to be determined . A second retake exam is possible in September in a date to be determined.