Merging Quantitative Risk Assessment Results into An SPF LCA

摘要

A number of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) systems are available to estimate impacts on human health and the enviromnent. Several of these systems (e.g., GaBi, SimaPro, Umberto, Open LCA) typically utilize one or both of two Life Cycle Inventory databases (i.e., GaBi and ecolnvent). The LCI databases of necessity assume average, global hazard impacts of materials in the various stages of the lifecycle. An additional, untapped resource for LCAs is a chemical hazard database that objectively quantitates impacts from 44 ecological, health and safety endpoints for over 29,000 chemicals and feeds these data into the GreenSuite~R quantitative risk assessment system. GreenSuite~R risk assessment results can be merged into LCAs. Since GreenSuite~R modules are applicable to chemicals, manufacturing processes, products, and wastestreams (i.e., encompass the entire lifecycle of a product), prospects for successfully merging these two capabilities are further enhanced. GreenSuite~R risk assessments were performed on generic SPF A Side, B Side, cured SPF, and SPF "article" formulations. These results were then incorporated into the results obtained from the Umberto LCA software system that also utilized other ecolnvent LCA data. The resulting, combined risk/LCA assessments greatly enhanced the specificity and credibility, and reduced the uncertainty and subjectivity of standard LCAs performed without the risk assessment data.