Critical volumes

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The critical volumes are a widely used method for aggregation and evaluation within the life cycle assessment . The origins of the process go back to a packaging study by BASLER and HOFFMANN from 1974. The environment as an object worth protecting is subdivided into three parts: air, water and soil. For each pollutant, the volume is calculated which is burdened with the legal limit value for the respective environmental medium. The aggregated value for each environmental medium can be determined by adding up. The results are the critical volumes for soil, air and water. The result is theoretical because, according to the calculation, a medium is only contaminated with a single pollutant.

concept

A method for calculating the critical volumes was developed by the Swiss Federal Office for Environmental Protection (BUS), in between the Federal Office for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (BUWAL), today the Federal Office for the Environment ([FOEN]).

The background to the calculation is that for each pollutant released into a medium, it is calculated which volume of air or water is contaminated by its presence up to the limit value. There is thus a weighting based on the limit values.

Key figures for

  • critical air volume in m³ / kg
  • critical amount of water in dm³ / kg
  • fixed amount of waste in cm³ / kg
  • Energy equivalent value in MJ / kg

educated.

The goal is to compare alternative packaging after the calculation and to derive an improvement strategy from it.

calculation

Air and water

  1. Acquisition of all pollutants of the object under consideration for the limit values ​​regarding the environmental media: air and water
  2. Division of pollutants into two classes:
    • Pollutants that are emitted into the water.
    • Pollutants that are emitted into the air.
  3. Conversion of the pollutant emissions of the object under consideration on the basis of comparison one kilogram
  4. Calculation of the air or water volume that the emitted pollutant pollutes up to the limit value:
    • critical volume of the pollutant (air) = emission x / immission limit value x
    • critical volume of the pollutant (water) = emission x / emission limit value x
  5. Summarizing the individual values ​​within the two categories air and water.

Fixed amount of waste

  1. Separation of the waste to be disposed of according to the type of disposal (incineration or direct landfill) and calculation of the disposal rates
  2. The following must be determined for the waste to be incinerated: types and quantities of air emissions, filter dust, flue gas cleaning sludge, combustion residues, released heat
  3. Correction factor (e.g. due to compaction) for landfill waste → Result: specific landfill volume of the waste (= fixed amount of waste)

Energy equivalent value

  1. Recording of electrical and thermal energy consumption → net energy consumption
  2. Calculation of the respective gross energy consumption

example

In the manufacture of packaging, e.g. B. for an industrial good, pollutants are created that are emitted into the environment. The pollutants are named in the first column of the table and quantified in the third column. In order to calculate the critical volumes, the emitted quantities are divided by the limit values ​​from column 5 for the respective pollutants. Then the sum of the individual quotients of the categories (here for simplification only air and water) is formed. With the critical volumes now obtained, the packaging considered here can be compared with another for ecological advantages.

Pollutant abbreviation Mass (in kg) medium Limit values critical air volume critical amount of water
Nitrogen oxides NO x 2.349 g air 0.03 mg / m³ 78,300.0 m³ / kg
Fluoride F. 0.003 g water 10.00 mg / l 0.3 dm³ / kg
mercury Ed 0.001 g water 0.01 mg / l 100.0 dm³ / kg
Oils 0.514 g water 20.00 mg / l 25.7 dm³ / kg
Hydrocarbons HC 6.475 g air 15.00 mg / m³ 431.6 m³ / kg
total 78,731.6 m³ / kg 126.0 dm³ / kg

literature

  • Jeannette A. Böning (1995): Methods of operational life cycle assessment , dissertation, 2nd edition, Marburg 1995, pp. 185–202
  • Federal Office for Environmental Protection (BUS) (1984): Life cycle assessments of packaging materials , series environmental protection, No. 24., Bern 1984.
  • Federal Office for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (BUWAL) (1991): Life cycle assessments of packaging materials. As of 1990 , Environmental Series No. 132, Waste, Bern 1991.
  • Guido Kurt Etterlin, Peter Hürsch, Martin Topf (1992): Life Cycle Assessments - A Guide for Practice , Mannheim 1992
  • Edeltraud Günther (2008): Ecology- Oriented Management , Stuttgart 2008, pp. 323–327.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeannette A. Böning (1995): Methods of operational life cycle assessment , Diss., 2nd edition, Marburg 1995, p. 185.
  2. ↑ Federal Office for Environmental Protection (BUS) (1984): Life cycle assessments of packaging materials , series environmental protection, No. 24., Bern 1984, p. 16.
  3. ^ Edeltraud Günther (2008): Ecology-Oriented Management , Stuttgart 2008, p. 324.
  4. ^ Edeltraud Günther (2008): Ökologieorientierter Management , Stuttgart 2008, p. 324f.
  5. ↑ Guido Kurt Etterlin; Peter Hürsch; Martin Topf (1992): Life Cycle Assessments - A Guide for Practice , Mannheim 1992, p. 73.

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