Life Cycle Assessment Support Area

While not a separate research thrust area, evaluating whether or not producing a specific biorenewable chemical is truly sustainable through life cycle assessment is an important systems level criterion for new chemical technologies to be developed through CBiRC. Development of appropriate life cycle assessment tools will be an additional overarching research area.

Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a tool that can be used to evaluate whether or not an existing or proposed chemical process is truly sustainable by assessing its broader impacts. As test beds emerge within CBiRC, a key question will be when the “hand off” from biocatalytic conversion to chemical catalytic conversion should occur. LCA will be used to help guide this decision by evaluating possible alternative process options. This evaluation will not only provide a basis for comparing these options, but will also identify the key technological bottlenecks and their resulting leverage on the sustainability of the biorenewable chemical product. Therefore, the LCA results will be used by the Technical Project Team to direct the technical efforts of CBiRC and for deciding resource allocation. On at least an annual basis, the LCA for the active CBiRC test beds will be updated for the Technical Project Team.