Papers by Patrizia Buttol
Four breeding piggeries and eight growing-fattening piggerieswere analyzed to estimate potential ... more Four breeding piggeries and eight growing-fattening piggerieswere analyzed to estimate potential environmental
impacts of heavy pig production (N160 kg of live height at slaughtering). Life Cycle Assessment methodology
was adopted in the study, considering a system from breeding phase to growing fattening phase. Environmental
impacts of breeding phase and growing-fattening phasewere accounted separately and then combined to obtain
the impacts of heavy pig production. The functional unit was 1 kg of live weight gain. Impact categories investigated
were global warming (GW), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), abiotic depletion (AD), and photochemical
ozone formation (PO).
The total environmental impact of 1 kg of live weight gain was 3.3 kg CO2eq, 4.9 E−2 kg SO2eq, 3.1 E−2 kg
PO4 3−eq, 3.7 E−3 kg Sbeq, 1.7 E−3 kg C2H4eq for GW, AC, EU, AD, and PO respectively.
Feed production was the main hotspot in all impact categories. Greenhouse gases responsible for GWwere mainly
CH4, N2O, and CO2. Ammonia was the most important source of AC, sharing about 90%. Nitrate and NH3 were
the main emissions responsible for EU, whereas P and NOx showed minor contributions. Crude oil and natural
gas consumption was the main source of AD. A large spectrum of pollutants had a significant impact on PO:they comprised CH4 from manure fermentation, CO2 caused by fossil fuel combustion in agricultural operations
and industrial processes, ethane and propene emitted during oil extraction and refining, and hexane used in soybean
oil extraction. The farm characteristics that best explained the results were fundamentally connected with
performance indicators Farms showed a wide variability of results, meaning that there was wide margin for improving
the environmental performance of either breeding or growing-fattening farms. The effectiveness of some
mitigation measures was evaluated and the results that could be obtained by their introduction have been
presented.
Having environmental indications such as those provided by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), while des... more Having environmental indications such as those provided by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), while designing a product would reduce the time re-quired by the trial-and-error approach resulting from environmental checks only at the end of the process, directing the development towards more sustainable solutions from the beginning. To achieve this, the design and environmental analysis should be more integrated, as well as the respective tools. The project idea discussed in this paper aims to overcome this barrier by defining an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) structure designed to carry Life Cycle Inventory data from Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools to Life Cycle Assessment tool. The idea is to exploit overlapping data between the CAD system and LCA in-struments, which are currently not being considered. This process will contrib-ute to the reduction of time required for data input and the amount of mistakes.
TESPI (Tool for Environmental Sound Product Innovation) is the prototype of a software tool devel... more TESPI (Tool for Environmental Sound Product Innovation) is the prototype of a software tool developed within the framework of the "eLCA" project. The project, (www.elca.enea.it)financed by the European Commission, is realising "On line green tools and services for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)". The implementation by SMEs of environmental product innovation (as fostered by the European Integrated Product Policy,
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2012
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a key vector to introduce and diffuse eco-inn... more Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a key vector to introduce and diffuse eco-innovation in the market, because of their relevance to both the environment and the European gross domestic product. As they are often focused on continuous and incremental innovation of their products, the optimization of product eco-innovation paths can be considered a central aspect of their business. All
Ecosmes.net è un portale multilingue che intende supportare il processo di eco-innovazione delle ... more Ecosmes.net è un portale multilingue che intende supportare il processo di eco-innovazione delle piccole e medie imprese europee mettendo a disposizione informazioni, strumenti di formazione e software semplificati per l’analisi del ciclo di vita e l’eco-progettazione di prodotti
Many approaches and strategies have been developed to implement sustainability aspects in the pro... more Many approaches and strategies have been developed to implement sustainability aspects in the product development process. Within these approaches, Life Cycle Assessment has been claimed to be the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. However, the use and interpretation of LCA results are still being debated. In particular, the implementation of the life cycle approach and of the LCA method in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is still not properly and consistently integrated into the management practice. The challenge is to undertake simplifying in order to ease the interaction with users who may be unfamiliar with environmental aspects, but who can strongly affect the product performance by intervening at the product design stage. This paper presents a Simplified LCA methodology, customized for the household appliances product category. The simplification strategies have been defined at different levels, in...
The flower market of the Terlizzi agro-industrial district (Bari, Italy) represents the 20% of th... more The flower market of the Terlizzi agro-industrial district (Bari, Italy) represents the 20% of the Italian production, which is the second in Europe after the Netherlands. The main products are cut flowers and plants in vase, in particular roses and cyclamens. In this framework the European Project "Ecoflower Terlizzi" was carried out to support the implementation of a sustainable environmental policy in the Terlizzi district. The project was aimed at defining the criteria of environmental quality of the flowers produced in this area and includes both the definition of an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) programme and of a local eco-label (type I). To reach this objective environmental analyses and LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) studies were carried out on a sample of seven enterprises representative of the Terlizzi's production systems. They were analysed on the basis of on-site data collection including materials and components for structures and equipments, energy and water consumption, fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals used in the cultivation phase. Three farms produce roses with soilless cultivation systems, two produce roses in soil and two produce cyclamens' pots. In this paper the main issues concerning the application of the LCA methodology to the production of roses and cyclamens and the results obtained will be presented. Thermal energy consumption gives the main contribution to the environmental impacts of the roses' life cycle. For the cyclamens' pots the main contribution comes from the seedlings production. For both productions, electricity consumption, structures and equipments give a significant contribution to the environmental impacts.
This study is part of a broader project carried out by CRA (Agricultural Research Council), in co... more This study is part of a broader project carried out by CRA (Agricultural Research Council), in collaboration with ENEA, aimed at evaluating and identifying environmentally friendly livestock models, which could be applied to Italian agri-food production systems, in order to improve their environmental sustainability. In Italy there are about 365 thousands Mediterranean Buffaloes. This population increased considerably in recent years, as consequence of the strong worldwide demand of "Mozzarella di bufala campana – DOP" (AIA, 2011). At present no LCA study on buffalo milk production exists in literature, whereas many LCA studies have been performed on cattle milk production, both on farming systems and on the entire life cycle. In this study the standard ISO Life Cycle Assessment and ILCD Handbook methodology (ILCD, 2010) have been applied to the production of two buffalo dairy farms located in Southern Italy. The goal is to evaluate their environ-mental performance and to ...
ISO Life Cycle Assessment and ILCD Handbook methodologies were applied to a sample of twelve Ital... more ISO Life Cycle Assessment and ILCD Handbook methodologies were applied to a sample of twelve Italian heavy pig farms located in Northern Italy, with the aim to assess the potential environmental impacts of breeding and fattening of heavy pig used for Italian cured ham production, as well as to identify the hotspots in the production chain. Two LCA studies were carried out on two samples of four breeding and eight fattening pig farms, respectively. Their results were combined in order to estimate the potential environmental impacts of the whole production chain. The functional units were 1 kg live weight of piglet (breeding phase), of fattened pig (growth and fattening phase) and fattened pig (whole chain). An attributional approach was applied according to the goal of the study. System boundaries were from cradle to farm gate and included the feed production, both on- and off-farm, and the activities related to pig feeding and breeding. Specific primary data, referred to 2011 for th...
Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2010
This article presents the results of an experimental activity aimed at investigating the technica... more This article presents the results of an experimental activity aimed at investigating the technical feasibility and the environmental performance of using municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash to produce glass frit for ceramic glaze (glaze frit). The process includes an industrial pretreatment of bottom ash that renders the material suitable for use in glaze frit production and allows recovery of aluminum and iron. The environmental performance of this treatment option is assessed with the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The goal of the LCA study is to assess and compare the environmental impacts of two scenarios of end of life of bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI): landfill disposal (conventional scenario) and bottom ash recovery for glaze frit production (innovative scenario). The main results of the laboratory tests, industrial simulations, and LCA study are presented and discussed, and the environmental advantages of recycling versus landfill disposal are highlighted.
The Science of the total environment, Jan 15, 2014
In this paper the authors propose a framework for combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and Risk ... more In this paper the authors propose a framework for combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and Risk Assessment (RA) to support the sustainability assessment of emerging technologies. This proposal includes four steps of analysis: technological system definition; data collection; risk evaluation and impacts quantification; results interpretation. This scheme has been applied to a case study of nanofluid alumina production in two different pilot lines, "single-stage" and "two-stage". The study has been developed in the NanoHex project (enhanced nano-fluid heat exchange). Goals of the study were analyzing the hotspots and highlighting possible trade-off between the results of LCA, which identifies the processes having the best environmental performance, and the results of RA, which identifies the scenarios having the highest risk for workers. Indeed, due to lack of data about exposure limits, exposure-dose relationships and toxicity of alumina nanopowders (NPs) and nan...
A key priority of European Union is how to support eco-innovation processes among enterprises, es... more A key priority of European Union is how to support eco-innovation processes among enterprises, especially small and medium-sized (SMEs) ones. Simplified tools like the LCA software eVerdEE, developed by ENEA, can help SMEs improve the environmental profile of their products and enter new markets (e.g. Green Public Procurement). The availability of up-to-date and consistent data is considered a fundamental element to guarantee the representativeness and robustness of LCA studies. In this regard, the LCA&Ecodesign research unit, in collaboration with the University of Modena, developed a utility to import the European Reference Life Cycle Data System (ELCD) into the eVerdEE database. The activity has been performed within the LISEA Laboratory, a project of Emilia Romagna Region. The new and revised eVerdEE database will make available to enterprises data of good quality and representative of the European context. This will support enterprises in performing LCA studies to identify impr...
The mechatronic sector is a strategic sector from the economic and environmental point of view, m... more The mechatronic sector is a strategic sector from the economic and environmental point of view, mainly due to the high content of strategic raw materials used such as (precious) metals, and also on the high production rate, short service life and, in turn, to the high waste flows they generate. The end-of-life (EoL) management of mechatronic products and the assessment of associated environmental impacts play thus a relevant role in the roadmap to resources efficient Europe, and several methods and approaches have been developed for dealing with it. Among these, the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology (1), currently being tested through pilot projects in different sectors, proposes a new EoL approach, which has raised the criticisms of many stakehodelrs in different sectors. This paper discusses main challenges and insights from the PEF EoL application to the case study of a domestic cooker hood, and attempts to answer the following questions: what kind of results are ...
Environmental engineering and management journal
This paper discusses end-of-life (EoL) modeling issues in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), through th... more This paper discusses end-of-life (EoL) modeling issues in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), through the application to a domestic cooker hood. Two EoL approaches are applied and discussed, namely the avoided burden and the one recommended by the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Guide, presently under testing. While no case studies on PEF application have been published yet, to the best of our knowledge, the scientific community is questioning the robustness and relevance of some methodological aspects, especially the EoL formula. The objective of the work is to provide a case study for supporting the scientific discussion on EoL modeling by: applying the avoided burden approach to the cooker hood EoL; testing the PEF EoL approach on a cooker hood component, the aluminum filter, and compare the results with those obtained from the avoided burden approach; evaluating how both the approaches affect the allocation of burdens/credits associated to recycling. The Global Warming Potential ...
The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) aims to detect social and socio-economic aspects of prod... more The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) aims to detect social and socio-economic aspects of products, and potential positive and negative impacts along their life cycle. Over last years, several efforts were done to improve the methodological basis of S-LCA, which follows the LCA structure closely. However, selection of social aspects to be analysed and formulation of the related indicators are still open issues, among others. In particular, these aspects are even more critical when the S-LCA framework is applied to the evaluation of a new technology, raising the question whether a specific approach based on the technical process features might be needed. This contribution addresses the above-mentioned topic by discussing how social performances due to development of a new technology (hereinafter called TyGRe) can be identified. The framework adopted for the analysis is given by the S-LCA Guidelines developed by UNEP/SETAC (2009), coupled with the approach to the social assessment ...
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2012
An LCA study on the production of an Italian brand of high quality milk (bottled in 1 l Tetra Top... more An LCA study on the production of an Italian brand of high quality milk (bottled in 1 l Tetra Top Ò ) was carried out in compliance with the Product Category Rules for milk of the International EPD Ò System. The results were compared with the registered environmental product declaration (EPD) of another brand of milk. The most relevant source of differences between the two studies is the choice of different system models, mainly due to lack of detailed instructions in PCR, especially for: fertilizers field emissions and choice of the models for their estimation; inclusion of the complementary fodder production; waste management. The results of this analysis were used to participate in the open consultation of the PCR revised version and to highlight the importance of including more detailed instructions. After the publication of the updated version of the PCR, the LCA study was revised for the part of the inventory concerning methane emissions from cattle and emissions due to manure management and spreading. The impact assessment results show that raw milk production at farms is the most critical life cycle phase, mainly because of: CH 4 from enteric fermentation, CO 2 from diesel consumption, and N 2 O and NH 3 airborne emissions as well as NO À 3 waterborne emissions coming from manure management and fertilizers use. Therefore, reductions of the environmental impacts can be mainly obtained at farms, with, for example, the selection of a diet for reducing enteric emissions, the introduction of energy recovery from anaerobic digestion of manure, the optimisation of the use of fertilizers adopting precision farming techniques. The results are within the literature range of values, though not fully comparable because of the existing differences in assumptions and modelling choices. Recommendations for improving the comparability of LCA in the food sectors are outlined.
In line with the theme of the IGWT Symposium, which is about the role of technology and innovatio... more In line with the theme of the IGWT Symposium, which is about the role of technology and innovation for a sustainable future, the primary scientific aim of the 2 nd DIRE meeting is to discuss the role of life cyclebased methods in addressing the challenges of sustainability assessment of technologies.
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Papers by Patrizia Buttol
impacts of heavy pig production (N160 kg of live height at slaughtering). Life Cycle Assessment methodology
was adopted in the study, considering a system from breeding phase to growing fattening phase. Environmental
impacts of breeding phase and growing-fattening phasewere accounted separately and then combined to obtain
the impacts of heavy pig production. The functional unit was 1 kg of live weight gain. Impact categories investigated
were global warming (GW), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), abiotic depletion (AD), and photochemical
ozone formation (PO).
The total environmental impact of 1 kg of live weight gain was 3.3 kg CO2eq, 4.9 E−2 kg SO2eq, 3.1 E−2 kg
PO4 3−eq, 3.7 E−3 kg Sbeq, 1.7 E−3 kg C2H4eq for GW, AC, EU, AD, and PO respectively.
Feed production was the main hotspot in all impact categories. Greenhouse gases responsible for GWwere mainly
CH4, N2O, and CO2. Ammonia was the most important source of AC, sharing about 90%. Nitrate and NH3 were
the main emissions responsible for EU, whereas P and NOx showed minor contributions. Crude oil and natural
gas consumption was the main source of AD. A large spectrum of pollutants had a significant impact on PO:they comprised CH4 from manure fermentation, CO2 caused by fossil fuel combustion in agricultural operations
and industrial processes, ethane and propene emitted during oil extraction and refining, and hexane used in soybean
oil extraction. The farm characteristics that best explained the results were fundamentally connected with
performance indicators Farms showed a wide variability of results, meaning that there was wide margin for improving
the environmental performance of either breeding or growing-fattening farms. The effectiveness of some
mitigation measures was evaluated and the results that could be obtained by their introduction have been
presented.
impacts of heavy pig production (N160 kg of live height at slaughtering). Life Cycle Assessment methodology
was adopted in the study, considering a system from breeding phase to growing fattening phase. Environmental
impacts of breeding phase and growing-fattening phasewere accounted separately and then combined to obtain
the impacts of heavy pig production. The functional unit was 1 kg of live weight gain. Impact categories investigated
were global warming (GW), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EU), abiotic depletion (AD), and photochemical
ozone formation (PO).
The total environmental impact of 1 kg of live weight gain was 3.3 kg CO2eq, 4.9 E−2 kg SO2eq, 3.1 E−2 kg
PO4 3−eq, 3.7 E−3 kg Sbeq, 1.7 E−3 kg C2H4eq for GW, AC, EU, AD, and PO respectively.
Feed production was the main hotspot in all impact categories. Greenhouse gases responsible for GWwere mainly
CH4, N2O, and CO2. Ammonia was the most important source of AC, sharing about 90%. Nitrate and NH3 were
the main emissions responsible for EU, whereas P and NOx showed minor contributions. Crude oil and natural
gas consumption was the main source of AD. A large spectrum of pollutants had a significant impact on PO:they comprised CH4 from manure fermentation, CO2 caused by fossil fuel combustion in agricultural operations
and industrial processes, ethane and propene emitted during oil extraction and refining, and hexane used in soybean
oil extraction. The farm characteristics that best explained the results were fundamentally connected with
performance indicators Farms showed a wide variability of results, meaning that there was wide margin for improving
the environmental performance of either breeding or growing-fattening farms. The effectiveness of some
mitigation measures was evaluated and the results that could be obtained by their introduction have been
presented.
This chapter provides an overview of where we are in SLCA, from the methodological and practical point of view, discussing new trends and approaches, also in the context of a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment.