Life cycle analysis (LCA) of a PET bottle

Résumé du document

In this report, the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of a PET bottle of water will be conducted. This method of analysis must deal with different issues at view to respect the ISO Standard 14040-14044 (Komly, 2012). We have chosen to study a PET bottle because it is one of the most common object of our everyday life.

In the world over 100 million water bottle are used every day:
This study will be carried out in order to answer these questions:
- What is the overall environmental impact of this product and what are the life phases weighting the most in that aspect?
- What is the environmental balance sheet of a PET bottle in terms sustainability? E.g. The recycling of used bottles to create new ones or other products.
- What are the uncertainty parameters in the possible manufacturing and delivering process and how can they interfere in the balance sheet?
- What are the opportunities presently available to decrease the environmental weight of a PET bottle?

To answer the questions displayed above, the functional unit will be defined as below: "Packaging of 0.5L of drinkable water in a PET bottle to bring the content from the production place to the consumption point"..

Extraits

[...] WATER CONSUMPTION The water consumption is another important point. The production of the raw material for the bottle and the processes generating the electricity used for the manufacture are the most water needing phases. (Shen, 2011) 7. CONSUMPTION OF MINERAL RESOURCES Copper 18% (cardboard) Nickel 52% (palettes, cardboard) Bauxite (cardboard) Moybène 12% (palettes) Table 10 : RAW MATERIALS PRODUCTION FOR SECONDARY AND TERTIARY PACKAGING (GIRONI, 2011) SYNTHESIS The following table summarizes the main findings related to the overall balance of a 0.5 l bottle in PET with these characteristics: Average weight: 32 g Bottle monolayer without additives, coloring or opacifying agent. [...]

[...] Multiobjective waste management optimization strategy coupling life cycle assessment and genetic algorithms: Application to PET bottles. Resources, conservation and recycling Milani, A. S. (2011). Multiple criteria decision making with life cycle assessment for material selection of composites. Express polymer letters, 5(12) Nessi, S. (2012). LCA of waste prevention activities: A case study for drinking water in Ital. [...]

[...] This is due to the low collecting rate of used PET IMPACT ON THE ACIDIFICATION OF THE AIR The production of the virgin PET also has an harmful effect On the Ph of the air. The emissions of NOx and SOx gazes in the atmosphere during the creation of the virgin PET and during the transport of the bottle acidify the air. (Shen, 2011) 4. EUTROPHICATION CONTRIBUTION The eutrophication is a degradation of the water or the air resulting in an increase of nutritive elements. E.g. [...]

[...] Therefore, the recycling rate of caps and wrappings is equivalent to the bottles'. /For the caps, the recycling rate is 100% For the wrapping, it will depend on its composition for OPP and PP wrappings, it will be recycled, however, paper wrappings will not. Therefore they are disposed in the following proportions: o Incineration rate: 43% (Shen, 2011) o Landfill rate: 53% (Shen, 2011) SECONDARY PACKAGING Secondary packaging (film) is considered non-recycled in households and recycled at a rate of 50% in stores. [...]

[...] it leads to the apparition of algae. The production of the raw materials required for the bottle contributes to the eutrophication of the air by releasing NOx while consuming O2. The incineration of the bottles and package elements plays a role as well. (Shen, 2011) (Komly, 2012) ENERGETIC CONSUMPTION At every step of its life cycle, the PET bottle requires energy consumption. The production of the virgin PET composing the bottle, caps and wrappings are one of the most costly in term of energy. [...]