Page 163 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

3.7 Illustration of the Inventory Phase by an Example 147

Material/product Data basis

The cardboard composite is cut to a given format and transported to the
bottler. For transport the cuts are either wrapped or stacked and packed
into cartons. Only on the bottling machine the beverage carton is finally
formed and sealed
PET bottles The production of PET bottles usually takes place in two stages, that is,
production first so-called preforms are manufactured out of dried PET granulates
and these in a second step are converted into bottles. Power
requirement of the preform and the bottle production is usually limited
to the use of electricity for the drying process, the heating and shaping
The energy consumption for the injection moulding of preforms
correlates with preform weight. This study assumes a specific constant
requirement of electricity of 2.6 kJ g −1
In the context of this study no energy consumption for the production of
the examined bottles by stretch blow moulding (SBM) could be
procured. Therefore current data from other projects of the IFEU Institute
were taken. The energy consumption for the SBM process is determined
among other things by bottle volume. For the 1000-ml-bottle
requirement of electricity of 22.2 kWh/1000 piece is assumed
Corrugated In this LCA data records of the FEFCO. published in the year 2003 for the
cardboard and production of corrugated base paper and corrugated cardboard
corrugated packaging were used
cardboard tray The specific data records for the production of ‘kraftliner’
production (predominantly from primary fibres), ‘test liners’ and ‘corrugating
medium’ (both from waste paper) as well as for the corrugated
cardboard packaging were taken. The data records represent weighted
average values in the data procurement of the FEFCO of various European
location. They refer to the production of the year 2002. The representativity
of the data records ranges from 20% (111 companies) for corrugated
cardboard and trays, to >70% for kraftliner
In corrugated cardboard a portion of fresh fibres are frequently applied
for reasons of stability. In the European average this portion amounts to
24% (FEFCO, 2003, loc. cit). For lack of more specific data this split was
also presumed in this study
Beverage Similar processes can be assigned to the filling of beverage cartons and
filling PET single-use bottles. Cold aseptic filling of fruit juice is the standard
technique for both packaging types. Power requirement and the
packaging rejects at the appropriate filling lines are also comparable.
The filling process of the examined single-use systems is rather
subordinated in the LCA as long as the thermal treatment of the
beverage is not considered
For the filling of beverage cartons the data from an LCA on juice, made
available by one of the largest German fruit juice manufacturers, were taken
(IFEU 2004, loc. cit). The data on electricity, compressed air, steam, and
water consumption were determined by a very high level of detail for
individual equipment components, based on measurements of existing
plants. Besides the actual filling of the beverage cartons the data also
cover shaping of the cartons, sealing, application of the drain and
loading of customer pallets