Life Cycle Assessment of Caprolactam production from Nylon 6 carpet ...
Life Cycle Assessment of Caprolactam production from Nylon 6 carpet recycling Marc Binder (1), Stefan Albrecht (2), Coppelia Marincovic (1), Laura Flanigan (3), Dennis McGavis (4) (1) PE Americas, (2) LBP‐GaBi University of Stuttgart, (3) Five Winds International, (4) Shaw Inc.
1. Goal of the Study ¾ Obtain an understanding of the environmental impacts of Evergreen caprolactam
3. Modeling (continued) ¾ Virgin Caprolactam
5. Interpretation ¾ Sensitivity analysis: Sensitivity of key parameters
¾ Secure an understanding of how this impact is distributed through the production process (hotspot analysis) ¾Compare the Environmental impacts of Evergreen caprolactam to virgin caprolactam, to get a quantitative assessment of the environmental benefits of producing a product made out of recycled carpet waste rather than virgin material (based on crude oil)
Transportation distance
¾ Support external communication of environmental performance of Shaw’s recycled caprolactam by Shaw’s Evergreen process
2. Scope of the Study 9 System boundaries
4. Results ¾ Comparison of Evergreen Caprolactam and Virgin Caprolactam
9Functional Unit: 1,000 lb [=453.6 kg] of caprolactam 9 Geographical coverage: US 9 Time coverage: 2007 9 Software and Background data: GaBi 4 and databases 9 Allocation methodology: Economic allocation 9 Critical Review Panel (according to ISO 14.40/14044): ‐ Joep Meijer, President, TheRightenvironment Ltd.Co. (Chair), LCA expert ‐ Bob Peoples, Ph.D., Director, ACS Green Chemistry Institute, expert in carpet chemistry and recycling efforts in the industry ‐ Jon Wybar, Revolution Recovery LLC/Construction Waste Management, expert in recovery and recycling infrastructure
3. Modeling ¾ Evergreen Caprolactam
Allocation methodology
¾Conclusions
¾ Evergreen Caprolactam Hotspot Analysis
Manufacturing of caprolactam made from recovered Nylon 6 carpets by the Evergreen process show environmental benefits for all impact categories and the consumption of fossil energy sources compared to the manufacturing of virgin caprolactam Transportation: although shorter transportation distances related to the collection of old carpet have a lower environmental impact, the impact is not of significance for the environmental performance of recycled caprolactam from the Evergreen process Energy consumption drives the profiles of recycled caprolactam – For all impact categories the energy consumption of the Evergreen process dominates the environmental profile (> 95%). Allocation methodology – sensitivity analysis showed the applied allocation methodology has an influence on the absolute reduction of the environmental impact when using caprolactam from Evergreen process compared to virgin. However Evergreen caprolactam even showed a lower impact for all impact categories as well for the consumption of fossil energy sources once all effort is allocated to recycled caprolactam and nothing to the byproduct. For more information: c.marincovic@pe‐international.com
1. Goal of the Study ¾ Obtain an understanding of the environmental impacts of Evergreen caprolactam
3. Modeling (continued) ¾ Virgin Caprolactam
5. Interpretation ¾ Sensitivity analysis: Sensitivity of key parameters
¾ Secure an understanding of how this impact is distributed through the production process (hotspot analysis) ¾Compare the Environmental impacts of Evergreen caprolactam to virgin caprolactam, to get a quantitative assessment of the environmental benefits of producing a product made out of recycled carpet waste rather than virgin material (based on crude oil)
Transportation distance
¾ Support external communication of environmental performance of Shaw’s recycled caprolactam by Shaw’s Evergreen process
2. Scope of the Study 9 System boundaries
4. Results ¾ Comparison of Evergreen Caprolactam and Virgin Caprolactam
9Functional Unit: 1,000 lb [=453.6 kg] of caprolactam 9 Geographical coverage: US 9 Time coverage: 2007 9 Software and Background data: GaBi 4 and databases 9 Allocation methodology: Economic allocation 9 Critical Review Panel (according to ISO 14.40/14044): ‐ Joep Meijer, President, TheRightenvironment Ltd.Co. (Chair), LCA expert ‐ Bob Peoples, Ph.D., Director, ACS Green Chemistry Institute, expert in carpet chemistry and recycling efforts in the industry ‐ Jon Wybar, Revolution Recovery LLC/Construction Waste Management, expert in recovery and recycling infrastructure
3. Modeling ¾ Evergreen Caprolactam
Allocation methodology
¾Conclusions
¾ Evergreen Caprolactam Hotspot Analysis
Manufacturing of caprolactam made from recovered Nylon 6 carpets by the Evergreen process show environmental benefits for all impact categories and the consumption of fossil energy sources compared to the manufacturing of virgin caprolactam Transportation: although shorter transportation distances related to the collection of old carpet have a lower environmental impact, the impact is not of significance for the environmental performance of recycled caprolactam from the Evergreen process Energy consumption drives the profiles of recycled caprolactam – For all impact categories the energy consumption of the Evergreen process dominates the environmental profile (> 95%). Allocation methodology – sensitivity analysis showed the applied allocation methodology has an influence on the absolute reduction of the environmental impact when using caprolactam from Evergreen process compared to virgin. However Evergreen caprolactam even showed a lower impact for all impact categories as well for the consumption of fossil energy sources once all effort is allocated to recycled caprolactam and nothing to the byproduct. For more information: c.marincovic@pe‐international.com
