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D5.3 Environmental Impact Assessment Report - Executive Summary
The present document constitutes Deliverable 5.3. “Environmental Impact Assessment” in the framework of work package 5 “Impact Assessment”. The goal of deliverable 5.3 is obtain the final LCA report of the overall environmental profile of SunCoChem process vs. conventional processes.
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the following technologies developed by the project has been carried out and eco-design recommendations have been made:
- CO2 Carbon capture membrane
- Ionic liquids
- Transparent membrane
- PV panel
- TPER
SunCoChem consists of tree case study projects
- CS1: Limoxal
- CS2: Valeraldehyde
- CS3: Glycolic acid
All this information has allowed to generate the Life Cycle Assessment models with the Simapro Developer life cycle software for all the case studies that are finally represented as definitive in this report. The LCA has been made following the corresponding standards ISO 14040/14044.
All this work has culminated with the main conclusion concerning results which state that the new technologies are theoretically capable of reducing emissions per kg of product produced by 0,2 kg CO2/kg of Limoxal (1%) in case study 1, 2,5 kg CO2/kg of Valeraldehyde (28%) in case study 2 and 1,8 kg CO2/kg of Glycolic acid (3,5%) in case study 3. All this in comparison to their respective reference system and among the other impact categories where its impact has been significantly reduced, such as in Land Use where it has been reduced by around 20% to 60% or in abiotic depletion where it has been reduced between 1% and 24%.
Hence, the initial objective of compliance with OB9 and reduce Global Warming emissions in 50% It can be concluded that LCA and SunCoChem have demonstrated very promising results for future industrial applications.
The process integration in the SunCoChem technology provides benefits, such as the reduced energy demand for CO2 capture and conversion by integrating the two processes. Photo-Electrocatalysis (PEC) is compared with photovoltaics with electrolysis (PV+electrolysis). PEC can result in reduced land area demand by direct light-driven processes. Considering the large volumes of chemicals produced by hydroformylation, we conclude that the SunCoChem technology clearly has potential transferability to other compounds than those produced in SunCoChem. A clear competitive disadvantage of SunCoChem is the low maturity of the individual components compared to competitive technologies. This lower maturity is a clear barrier for exploitation, that some crucial technical improvements to be made, is highlighted.