88099 - Study And Procedures Of Environmental Impact And Certification

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide the basic knowledge for assessing the environmental sustainability of materials, products and production processes through the analysis of the life cycle LCA (Life Cycle Assessment). The basis is provided for the use of the LCA tool to support research and development activities, with the possibility of simulating different technological scenarios on the trend of energy consumption relating to the materials, products and processes used. Furthermore the LCA evaluation would allow to identify the solutions compatible with the technologies available in the company and to proceed, subsequently, to the planning phase of possible changes, together with an economic feasibility study. The course provides the knowledge for the use of the LCA technique as a basic approach for ecological labeling and eco-friendly design.

Course contents

Introduction to the course: introduction of the concept of Environmental Life Cycle Assessment - development of the LCA methodology, features and potential - description of the four phases that characterize it, such as definition of the objective and field of application, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation of results.

Structure of the LCA analysis: general definitions.

First phase of the LCA analysis: definition of the aims and objectives, definition of the system, of the functional unit, of the system boundaries, quality and reliability of the data collected.

Energy analysis: methodology - renewable, exhaustible and inexhaustible energy - definition of energy load - investment energy - direct and indirect energy - feedstock energy, energy provided by workers and expenditure for workers, cumulative energy - energy content of materials - energy to produce fuels.

Second phase of the LCA analysis: introduction to the analysis of inventory, information gathering, data processing - allocation - management of the "end of life" - analysis of processes - results of the inventory.

Third phase of the LCA analysis: impact analysis - general aspects and definitions - normalization of results.

Fourth phase of the LCA analysis: interpretation of the results and improvement.

Life Cycle Design: eco-friendly design - eco-efficiency - selection of materials - functions, objectives and design constraints.

Characteristics of the software used for the LCA analysis: schematic representation of the life cycle system - realization of the tables - flow diagrams - databases - presentation of the results - energy measurement units and conversions.

Regulations: International reference standards and regulations (ISO standards) - ecological labeling (ecolabel) - environmental product declaration (EPD, Environmental Product Declaration) - Carbon Footprint (calculation of CO2 emissions).

LCA case studies: presentation of LCA assessments on real industrial research cases

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture notes and material provided by the teacher.

- Gina luca Baldo, Massimo Marino, Stefano Rossi - LCA Life Cycle Analysis - Edizioni Ambiente

Teaching methods

Frontal theoretical lessons in the classroom. Seminars conducted by industry experts.

Assessment methods

The verification of the learning takes place through a final written test of about 1 hour, during which the use of supporting material such as books, notes, computer media is not allowed.

The written test will contain a series of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and aims to ascertain and verify the skills and knowledge acquired within the themes dealt with in the entire course program. The final grade is expressed in thirtieths.

The minutes of the achieved evaluation take place on the dates fixed and indicated in Almaesami. You can view the task and ask for clarification.

Teaching tools

Lecture notes and selected and updated bibliographic material provided by the teacher during the course.

Office hours

See the website of Valentina Manuela Siracusa