Towards Standards-Based Generation of Reusable Life Cycle Inventory Data Models for Manufacturing Processes

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Industrial Ecology
• Sustainable Manufacturing

Background:

• Product life cycle assessment (LCA) relies on accurate Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data.
• Current LCI data often lacks detail and accuracy for manufacturing processes.
• Manufacturing research aims to improve environmental impact modeling and reduction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the usability of ASTM E3012-16 for generating LCI datasets.
• To map ASTM standard data to the ecoSpold2 format for LCA.
• To identify overlaps and gaps between ASTM and ecoSpold2 standards.

Main Methods:

• Developing a process to generate LCI datasets from ASTM models.
• Mapping data from the ASTM E3012-16 format to the ecoSpold2 format.
• Comparative analysis of the two data standards.

Main Results:

• A methodology for converting ASTM data to ecoSpold2 was established.
• Key overlaps and discrepancies between the ASTM and ecoSpold2 formats were identified.
• The potential for enhanced LCI data generation was demonstrated.

Conclusions:

• The ASTM E3012-16 standard can be utilized to generate LCI datasets for LCA.
• Mapping to ecoSpold2 enhances the reusability and accuracy of manufacturing impact data.
• Further work is needed to fully reconcile the two standards for comprehensive LCA.