Tutorial for Final
Assignm ent
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING
T2-2023
Prof Sami Kara
S.Kara@unsw.edu.au
Aim of the tutorial:
• Final Assignment preparation
• Estimation of volume growth and target setting
• Environmental impact assessment
• LCE mitigation strategies and evaluation of target
fulfillment
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Determine the estimated volume growth / year of the sector (food and beverage) based on
an appropriate data or regression model
Task 1.1 Volume prediction and target setting
2023 reference year
• Determine the reported total environmental impact of the entire sector from 2023 to 2050, in terms of CO2eq,
based on the sector contribution (e.g., 33%) to global impact
Task 1.2. Total environmental impact of the sector
2023 reference year
• Selected organization has 50% market share within the sector (assumptions: market share
stays same; impact intensity stays same)
1.3. Total environmental impact profile of the organisation
2023 reference year
• Two SBT approaches for estimating reduction pathways and carbon budget
• Estimated target reduction (60%) is same for both SBT approaches but might be different
for your case!!
Task 1.3 Organisation carbon budget and emission reduction
pathways
2023 reference year
Estimated target
reduction of 60% wrt
reference year 2023
SBT2SBT1
Carbon budget – SBT1 Carbon budget – SBT2
1.4 Organisation’s environmental impact reduction
• SBT 1 is selected since it gives slower reduction requirement
• Total environmental budget = area under the reduction pathway from 2023-2050
• Environmental budget / year = Total budget / (2050-2023)
Reduction required by
2050
Task 2. Techno-environmental evaluation
• The purpose of this task is to develop an understanding of the second
step of operationalizing the framework of LCE, which is the Techno-
environmental evaluation by using Life Cycle Environmental Impact
Assessment (LCA) of a representative product for the organisation
you have used in Task 1.
• Product: Beverage bottle
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
Task 2.1 Mapping out product life cycle
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Process flow and life cycle foreground system
Task 2.2 Mapping out product life cycle
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Process flow and life cycle foreground and background system
Task 2.3 Product system boundary
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Gate-to-gate
Task 2.3 Product system boundary
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Cradle-to-gate
Task 2.3 Product system boundary
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Cradle-to-grave
Task 2.3 Environmental Impact Assessment
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
1. Demonstrate the product life cycle, the process flow and their Input-
outputs relation between processes.
2. Map foreground and background processes along to the product life
cycle.
3. Based on the environmental impact assessment reference you have
found, and the information gathered in the previous steps:
a.Clearly detail the goal and scope of the study,
b.Functional unit,
c. Impact categories,
d.System boundaries.
Task 2.4. Environmental Impact Assessment
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Identifying environmental hotspots - Emission intensity of a bottle: 2000 kgCO2eq
50% in the manufacturing stage
Task 2.5. Total Environmental Impact (EI) Profile
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Normalisation based on emission intensity of a bottle: 2000 kgCO2eq
Reduction required by
2050
Normalisation of total EI
Task 2.6. Total Environmental Impact (EI) Profile
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Total EI reduction required: Total impact for a given year – Allocated budget for
each life cycle stage
Task 3.1 Development of mitigation strategies
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Manufacturing Stage:
• Increasing the energy and resource efficiency of manufacturing processes
• Material Stage
• Using recycled PET for materials
• Use Stage
• Reduce the use intensity of products
• End of Life
• Increase the efficiency of recycling (current 50%)
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Manufacturing Stage: Increasing the energy and resource efficiency
• It makes up 50% of the environmental impact of the product due to the energy
intensity of making bottles
• Assumption: reduction can be achieved proportional and max efficiency can be
achieved via efficiency improvement is around 20% (must be referenced!!)
• Total reduction that can be achieved 20% of 50%. Therefore, total reduction that can
be achieved 20% of 50%, 10% for the manufacturing stage (e.g., 10% of
807793566.95 kgCO2eq).
• Technology solution:
• PET bottles are produced by using blow molding. Energy efficiency can be
achieved by retrofitting the electric motor with an energy efficient one and
reusing the waste from the process.
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
10% reduction due to
the manufacturing
mitigation strategy
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Material Stage: Using recycled materials
• It makes up of 15% environmental impact of the product
• Reduction can be achieved 80% (must be referenced!!)
• Total reduction that can be achieved 80% of 15%, 12% for the material
stage, therefore 12% of 807793566.95 kgCO2eq.
• Technology solution:
• Using recycled pellets for making PET bottles. Recycling energy
consumption is less than producing virgin PET
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
12% reduction due to
the material related
mitigation strategy
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• EOL Stage: Bringing waste management system to the foreground
• It makes up 10% of environmental impact of the product
• Reduction can be achieved by reusing the bottles. Bottle causes 30% of
the total beverage impact (From the reference LCA study). Not
recommended to reuse more than twice. (must be referenced!!).
• This will lead to producing 50% less bottles since the same bottles can
be used twice. If it was glass, reuse number can be increased at the
expense of manufacturing stage energy intensity.
• The impact will be along the entire product life cycle e.g., using less
energy and resources (must be referenced!!).
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• EOL Stage: Bringing waste management system to the foreground
• Although the bottle volume can be halved, the reduction will not be
50% since collection and reuse also creates environmental impact (10%).
However, the EOL related environmental impact will be reduced as well.
Hence the total reduction that can be achieved 30% of 807793566.95
kgCO2eq.
• Technology solution:
• Developing a reuse scheme by introducing collection scheme via
retailers etc. Consumer can bring their empty bottles to
supermarkets to collect the filled ones.
• Internal recycling scheme
Task 3.2 Mitigation strategies and impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
30 % reduction due to
the EOL related
mitigation strategy
Task 3.3 Mitigation strategies and total impact reduction
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
30 % reduction due to the EOL
related mitigation strategy0
• Combining mitigation strategies of: (Increasing energy and resource efficiency, using
recycled material, etc.)
10% reduction due to the manufacturing
mitigation strategy
12 % reduction due to the material
mitigation strategy
Total reduction: 42%
Further required reduction: 58%
Group and Individual Tasks: Additional Points
GSOE9340 LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING by S.KARA
• Key points to consider:
• Numbers used MUST be referenced e.g., recycled PET has 80% less footprint than the
virgin PET.
• Technology solutions MUST be elaborated properly with a logical explanation by using
your technical background (Individual Task)
• Possible rebound effects MUST be highlighted e.g., switching from PET to glass leads to
increase in footprint during the manufacturing stage but allows multiple reuse at the
end of its life, possible rebound effect between the impact categories (Individual Task)
• If after all mitigation strategies, the impact still higher than the reduction required, you
need to elaborate on what would be the ramification by using the IPAT equation and
recommend different business models to reduce the affluence while still meeting the
demand (Individual Task)