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General comment TYPE OF DATASET
Each chemical compound is provided in aggregated (LCI results) and level-1 disaggregated (unit process, single operation) form. For more information, see the report (ecoinvent Association, 2020, Data on the Production of Chemicals created for the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) transition phase implementation, www.ecoinvent.org, ecoinvent Association, Zurich, Switzerland). This dataset represents the LCI results.
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
This dataset represents the production of 1 kg of liquid acrylic acid. Acrylic acid is a colourless, slightly water soluble liquid with an acrid odour. It is primarily used to produce acrylic esters (acrylates) which are mainly used in emulsions and solution polymers for latex-based paints, coatings, adhesives and textiles. This dataset models the production of acrylic acid using the two-step propylene oxidation process.
The activity starts when the raw materials enter the process.
This activity ends with the production of 1 kg of acrylic acid. The dataset includes the processing of the raw materials and chemicals used for production, as well as emissions to air and water. The energy demand and infrastructure of the plant are estimated. Solid wastes are omitted.
References
ecoinvent (2017) Data on the Production of Chemicals created for the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) pilot phase implementation, www.ecoinvent.org, ecoinvent Association, Zürich, Switzerland
Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de
Althaus H.-J., Chudacoff M., Hischier R., Jungbluth N., Osses M. and Primas A. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals. ecoinvent report No. 8, v2.0. EMPA Dübendorf, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, CH.
Water content of the reference product: 0.0 kg
Biogenic carbon content of the reference product: 0.0 kg
DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT
The data quality ratings for the datasets were determined as the average of the 5 individual ratings for Technological Representativeness, Geographical Representativeness, Time-related representativeness, Precision/uncertainty, and implementation of the End of Life Formula. The final scores for these 5 descriptors were determined by the independent, external reviewer after a discussion with the internal reviewers. The basis for this determination was generally a contribution analysis of the material and energy inputs as well as direct resource uses and emissions. This process was required by the tender.
The contribution analysis is based on the most important flows in the dataset, defined in the tender specifications as "the unit processes contributing cumulatively to at least to 80% of the total environmental impact based on characterised and normalised results". In addition to unit processes, direct emissions also qualified as input exchanges for this approach. For the normalization, the normalisation factors "EC-JRC Global (2010 or 2013), per person" available at http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?page_id=140 were used. For each parameter, the DQR scores were chosen to best reflect the conditions and quality of the amount value, the appropriateness of the chosen exchange for the specific needs of the system under analysis, and the quality of the foreground and background data for aggregated inputs of exchanges from the technosphere, i.e. not direct emissions or resource uses.
ENERGY AND TRANSPORT INFORMATION SOURCE
Energy and transport was used in both the foreground and background of this dataset. When building the dataset, energy and transport demands were supplied directly by datasets provided by Sphera. The background for every other input from technosphere uses a modified version of the ecoinvent database, created specifically for the PEF. In this version, every instance of energy and transport supply, anywhere in the database, was replaced by a dataset from Sphera. This ensures that every demand for energy and transport, in the foreground and in the background, is supplied by a Sphera dataset.
BILL OF MATERIALS
The bill of material includes the following inputs:
chemical factory, organics: 4e-10 unit
chemical, inorganic: 0.0003 kg
ethyl acetate: 0.01 kg
hydroquinone: 0.002 kg
nitrogen, liquid: 0.019 kg
propylene: 0.63 kg
tap water: 0.026 kg
wastewater, average: -2.7e-06 m3
Electricity: 0.416 kWh
Thermal energy (MJ): 0.2185 MJ.
NOT INCLUDED EXCHANGES
All known elementary exchanges are included.
PROCESS DIAGRAM LEGEND
The file 'Diagram of data for chemicals EF3.0' presents the general structure of the processes created for the EF chemical data. A complete flow diagram for the selected process is available in the relevant section. |
