Life-Sys Wood: Consistent life cycle analysis of wood based products

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 95.0095

Key words (English)

Wood; forest products; LCA; knowledge based system

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: FAIR-CT95-0726

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 4.3 Biomedical/Health research

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise:
Eidg. Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt EMPA

Partners and International Organizations (English)

Centre for Timber Research (NL); EMPA (CH); Forintek Corporation of Canada; Western-European Institute for Wood Preservation (B); Technical Research Centre (FIN); Schauman Wood OY (FIN); The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (UK); The Norwegian Institute for Wood Technology (NO); The Swedish Institute for Wood Technology Research (S); Swedish Wood Technology Research Toundation (S); Tarkett AB Division Hardwood Europe (S); AB Gustaf Kaehr (S)

Abstract (English)

This shared cost EU research project was funded by the EC FAIR programme in December 1995. Seven research institutes and four industrial partners participated in the project. The fact that EMPA and a Canadian institute collaborated as non-EU countries made the project rather untypical from the partnership.
The need for the research emerged from the difficulties to compare and to interpret the results from existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) reports from different EU countries. The objectives were
· to compare and to combine LCA methodologies from the project partners and with reference to the emerging international standards into a consistent approach
· to gain information on the life cycle analysis of wood as a raw material and of 5 wood products
· to investigate the use of a knowledge transfer system to make the LCA information more accessible.
To meet the first objective, a list of eighteen decisions was developed where the main problems with applying the general principles of the ISO methodology to wood products are identified and practical solutions are presented. Allocation of flows and interventions proved to be a key issue in the forestry-wood chain where co- and by-products as well as wood waste are frequently re-used or recycled in subsequent product systems. Common processes in the product life were identified and agreed data on a number of electricity and heat generation processes are described on a national as well as on an EU level. Similarly, common data sets of four major transport modes and five major waste disposal options were used in the product LCAs. The development of a Data Input Module has supported the structured data handling in terms of terminology, data characterisation and transparency. All product LCAs were elaborated following the same knowledge structure, allowing to include the life cycle inventories of 230 specific product processes and 32 common processes as a first basis for an agreed European databases in a knowledge based system.
Within the limitations inherent to LCA studies, a consistent approach for wood products has been developed, and detailed life cycle inventories of the selected products has been presented. Data gathered for the wood specific unit processes were judged to be of a sufficient quality level, but data for the auxiliaries and by-products need further improvement. The results underline that energy use in forest products industry is relatively low, and naturally a large advantage of the products is the possibility for energy recovery at the final waste disposal. The allocation procedure for waste to recycling and the inclusion of embodied CO2 has resulted in negative global warming potentials for all wood products. This relates to the decision that all upstream flows required to render any material suitable for reuse or recycling have been allocated to the parent product of the 'first' life cycle, and not to the recycled product. Any measures taken to improve the service life of the products turned out to be beneficial in the overall evaluation including preservative treatment and finishing. Further, the final waste disposal options (e.g., landfill vs. thermal treatment) effected the results of all LCAs considerably.
The set up of an effective knowledge transfer system proved to be the most complex task. Although a demonstration version showed up its general purposes, the developed prototype is still limited in flexibility and depth of information.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 95.0095