Abstract
Life cycle thinking is a necessary component in preventing the shifting of burden along the life cycle and from one impact category to another. For this reason, many have focused on integrating life cycle thinking into occupational risk assessment. The resultant methods have different properties in terms of scope and outcomes. Literature has been reviewed for life cycle occupational risk assessment methodologies, and 3 methods (life cycle inherent toxicity (LCIT) method, work environment characterization factors (WE-CFs) method, and life cycle risk assessment (LCRA) method) have been selected and applied in a case study of electricity production from pyro-oil to identify suitability and research gaps in the existing literature. The results of the LCIT method were highly heterogenous over life cycle of electricity production. For the current case, the major cancer and non-cancer impacts originated from the same life cycles. The results from WE-CFs method were highly heterogenous over the life cycle of electricity production as well. Agriculture contributed the most to the occupational risks. In the LCRA method, averaging caused the information about the frequency of the risks over life cycle to be lost. The method showed the well-known bargaining between accuracy and simplicity when complex systems are considered. Results from this method were quite homogenous among life cycles, due to the averaging effect. Detailed reporting and follow-up of the worker health issues can enable a more accurate application of the WE-CFs method. The overall results showed that it was possible to apply these 3 methodologies for the EU-28 region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adu IK, Sugiyama H, Fischer U, Hungerbühler K (2008) Comparison of methods for assessing environmental, health and safety (EHS) hazards in early phases of chemical process design. Process Saf Environ Prot 86:77–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2007.10.005
Aissani L, Jabouille F, Bourgois J, Rousseaux P (2012) A new methodology for risk evaluation taking into account the whole life cycle (LCRA): validation with case study. Process Saf Environ Prot 90:295–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2011.10.003
Aissani L (2008) Intégration des paramètres spatio-temporels et des risques d’accident à l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie : Application à la filière hydrogène énergie et à la filière essence. Dissertation, Ecole Nationale Sup´erieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne (in French)
Badr S, Frutiger J, Hungerbuehler K, Papadokonstantakis S (2017) A framework for the environmental, health and safety hazard assessment for amine-based post combustion CO2 capture. Int J Greenhouse Gas Control 56:202–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.11.013
Breedveld L (2013) Combining LCA and RA for the integrated risk management of emerging technologies. J Risk Res 16(3-4):459–468. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2012.729526
Chen H, Shonnard DR (2004) Systematic framework for environmentally conscious chemical process design: early and detailed design stages. Ind Eng Chem Res 43:535–552. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie0304356
Chilcott RP (2006) Compendium of chemical hazards: diesel. Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division (HQ). UK Health Protection Agency (HPA), Oxfordshire
Date AW (2011) Analytic combustion: with thermodynamics, chemical kinetics and mass transfer. Cambridge University Press, New York
Eckelman MJ (2016) Life cycle inherent toxicity: a novel LCA-based algorithm for evaluating chemical synthesis pathways. Green Chem 18:3257–3264. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5gc02768c
Ecoinvent (2018) Ecoinvent database. Zurich (Switzerland). http://www.ecoinvent.org/. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Eurostat (2008) NACE Rev. 2, statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community. European Union http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/5902521/KS-RA-07-015-EN.PDF. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Flemström K, Carlson R, Erixon M (2004) Relationships between life cycle assessment and risk assessment: potentials and obstacles. Naturvârdsverket (Stockholm): Industrial Environmental Informatics (IMI), Chalmers University of Technology, June. Report no.: 5379
Hamzi R, Londiche H, Bourmada N (2008) Fire-LCA model for environmental decision-making. Chem Eng Res Des 86(10):1161–1166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2008.05.004
Harder R, Holmquist H, Molander S, Svanström M, Peters GM (2015) Review of environmental assessment case studies blending elements of risk assessment and life cycle assessment. Environ Sci Technol 49:13083–13093. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b03302
Hauschild MZ, Goedkoop M, Guinée J, Heijungs R, Huijbregts M, Jolliet O, Margni M, Schryver AD, Humbert S, Laurent A, Sala S, Pant R (2013) Identifying best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:683–697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0489-5
HSW (2017) Health and safety at work database. EU: Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/health/health-safety-work/data/database. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Jolliet O, Fantke P (2015) Human toxicity. In: Hauschild M, Huijbregts M (eds) Life cycle impact assessment. LCA Compendium – The Complete World of Life Cycle Assessment. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 75–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9744-3_5 Accessed 6 Dec 2018
JRC (2017) European Life Cycle Database. EU Joint Research Centre. http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ELCD3/. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Khakzad S, Khana F, Abbassi R, Khakzad N (2017) Accident risk-based life cycle assessment methodology for green and safe fuel selection. Process Saf Environ Prot 109:268–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2017.04.005
Kikuchi Y, Hirao M (2008) Practical method of assessing local and global impacts for risk-based decision making: a case study of metal degreasing processes. Environ Sci Technol 42:4527–4533. https://doi.org/10.1021/es7024164
Kobayashi Y, Peters GM, Khan SJ (2015) Towards more holistic environmental impact assessment: hybridisation of life cycle assessment and quantitative risk assessment. Procedia CIRP 29:378–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.01.064
Mullen CA, Boateng AA (2008) Chemical composition of bio-oils produced by fast pyrolysis of two energy crops. Energy Fuel 22:2104–2109. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef700776w
Mutel CL, Hellweg S (2009) Regionalized life cycle assessment: computational methodology and application to inventory databases. Environ Sci Technol 43(15):5797–5803. https://doi.org/10.1021/es803002j
Paolucci N, Bezzo F, Tugnoli A (2016) A two-tier approach to the optimization of a biomass supply chain for pyrolysis processes. Biomass Bioenergy 84:87–97
Risher JF, Rhodes SW (1995) Toxicological profile for fuel oils. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Atlanta
Rosenbaum RK, Huijbregts MAJ, Henderson AD (2011) USEtox human exposure and toxicity factors for comparative assessment of toxic emissions in life cycle analysis: sensitivity to key chemical properties. Int J Life Cycle Assess 16:710–727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0316-4
Runyan JL (1993) A review of farm accident data sources and research: review of recently published and current research. Report no.: 125. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington
Scanlon KA, Gray GM, Francis RA, Lloyd SM, LaPuma P (2013) The work environment disability adjusted life year for use with life cycle assessment: a methodological approach. Environ Health 12(21). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-21
Scanlon KA, Lloyd SM, Gray GM, Francis RA, LaPuma P (2015) An approach to integrating occupational safety and health into life cycle assessment, development and application of work environment characterization factors. J Ind Ecol 19(1):27–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12146
SimaPro (2018) SimaPro software. PRé Consultants B.V., Dutch Chamber of Commerce, Amersfoort (Netherlands). https://simapro.com/about/. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Strogen B, Bell K, Breunig H, Zilberman D (2016) Environmental, public health, and safety assessment of fuel pipelines and other freight transportation modes. Appl Energy 171:266–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.059
Sugiyama H, Fischer U, Hungerbühler K, Hirao M (2008a) Decision framework for chemical process design including different stages of environmental, health, and safety assessment. AICHE J 54(4):1037–1053. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.11430
Sugiyama H, Hirao M, Fischer U, Hungerbühler K (2008b) Activity modeling for integrating environmental, health and safety (EHS) consideration as a new element in industrial chemical process design. J Chem Eng Jpn 41(9):884–897. https://doi.org/10.1252/jcej.07we263
USEtox (2018) Scientific consensus model endorsed by the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative for characterizing human and ecotoxicological impacts of chemicals. https://www.usetox.org/. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Walker WC, Bosso CJ, Eckelman M, Isaacs JA, Pourzahedi L (2015) Integrating life cycle assessment into managing potential EHS risks of engineered nanomaterials: reviewing progress to date. J Nanopart Res 17(344). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-015-3151-x
WHO (2004) Global Burden of Disease 2004 update: disability weights for diseases and conditions. World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
WNA (2016) Heat values of various fuels. World Nuclear Association (WNA), United Kingdom. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/facts-and-figures/heat-values-of-various-fuels.aspx. Accessed 6 Dec 2018
Yang Y (2016) Toward a more accurate regionalized life cycle inventory. J Clean Prod 112:308–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.091
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Loubet
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oguzcan, S., Tugnoli, A. & Dvarioniene, J. Application of selected life cycle occupational safety methods to the case of electricity production from pyro-oil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 34873–34883 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06307-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06307-3