Page 169 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

166 8. Framework of life cycle sustainability assessment

FIG. 8.10 The research categories of LCA for 2000 to 2018.

Among the remaining 51 articles, they were categorized into three different categories,
which include concept, method, and analysis. The concept type article introduces sustainabil-
ity concepts and reviews of relative articles without mentioning methodologies and case stud-
ies. The method type article introduces a new framework of LCSA without mentioning
specific application fields and application cases. The analysis type articles have specific ap-
plication objects and clear problems to be solved. To better illustrate the development trend of
LCSA, the number of each type of article was summarized according to published years, as
shown in Fig. 8.11.
It can be observed from Fig. 8.11 that the articles purely discussing concepts and methods
were limited. Most of the articles attempted to create new methods for a certain industry or a
case. The number of LCSA analyzing sustainability performances increased with the years.
Therefore, although LCSA is a new field of sustainability assessment, it is observed to be a
useful and feasible tool that attracts further study.