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A dynamic approach for life cycle global warming impact assessment of machine tool considering time effect

  • LCA FOR MACHINES
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The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Machine tools are the equipment used for the cutting and shaping of materials, like metals, which generate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their life cycles due to material use and energy consumption. The life cycle emissions of machine tools are distributed over time and may vary with technology advancement. This paper aims to incorporate these temporal factors into the global warming impact (GWI) assessment of machine tools and further reveal their influences on the results.

Method

Incorporating emission time into the GWI assessment of machine tools is based on the following dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. First, compute temporally differentiated GHGs of machine tools based on the activity-based modeling. And then, use time-dependent characterization factors (CFs), which are developed based on the radiative forcing concept, to assess their GWI. By using this framework, a dynamic life cycle GWI assessment of machine tool is conducted using two gear hobbing machines. Both the emission time and the potential changes of life cycle emissions due to the improvement of electricity mix and the variation of machine tool use modes are considered.

Results and discussion

The results demonstrated that when the emission time was considered, both machines offered 3% of reduction of GWI, compared with their static results, respectively. Further reductions were found for the two machines, when the electricity improvement and the changes of the machine tool use modes were considered. All the differences between the static and the dynamic environmental impact results become smaller with the extension of the time horizons (THs) that accounted for the evaluation.

Conclusions and recommendations

The conventional static LCA has the potential to overestimate the real GWI of machine tools. It is more important to account for the emission time in GWI assessment at shorter THs or for a longer lifetime of machine tools. This work offers a method to dynamically assess the real GWI of machine tools. The proposed method helps to make robust decision-making for environmentally friendly machine tool selection and support sustainable production.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51975076) and the Pilot Program for the Integration of Science, Education and Industry of Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) (grant number 2020KJC-ZD05).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China

    Dan Zeng & Huajun Cao

  2. National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, Beijing, 100035, China

    Cuimei Ma

  3. Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Group, Sustainability Division, DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark, 2800, Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael Zwicky Hauschild & Yan Dong

Authors
  1. Dan Zeng
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  2. Huajun Cao
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  3. Cuimei Ma
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  4. Michael Zwicky Hauschild
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  5. Yan Dong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huajun Cao.

Additional information

Communicated by Zbigniew Stanislaw Klos.

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Zeng, D., Cao, H., Ma, C. et al. A dynamic approach for life cycle global warming impact assessment of machine tool considering time effect. Int J Life Cycle Assess 26, 1391–1402 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-021-01933-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-021-01933-x

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