Page 232 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

230 11. A composite life cycle sustainability index for sustainability prioritization of industrial systems

Catalyst
production Recycle Materials

Decommissioning
Plant setup treatment Wastes
commissioning
Waste
Raw materials and energy of electricity Plant operations H 2
Generation
and production

Air and gas
input
capture Emission
CO 2
Steam
production CO 2 storage
System boundary
FIG. 11.3 Hydrogen production system framework. Adapted from Dufour, J., Serrano, D., Galvez, J., Moreno, J.,
Garcia, C., 2009. Life cycle assessment of processes for hydrogen production. Environmental feasibility and reduction of green-
house gases emissions. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 34(3), 1370–1376

11.2.3 Environmental indicators from the footprint assessment

For determining the environmental performance of the industrial systems from the life
cycle perspective, calculation method environmental “footprints” can also be employed
(Burman et al., 2018), where the different “footprints” measure the consumption of natural
resources (Hoekstra, 2009) and describe the human activities that impact on sustainable de-
velopment (UNEP, 2009). Considering that several footprint evaluation methods can be
used in the life cycle sustainability assessment of industrial systems, corresponding indica-
tors are offered here for representing the environmental performance, as depicted in
Fig. 11.4, including ecological footprint, water footprint, carbon footprint, energy footprint,
emission footprint, nitrogen footprint, land footprint, and biodiversity footprint (Alvarez
et al., 2016). For more detailed information regarding footprint-based indicators, see
Table 11.2.
Among the multiple footprints, the carbon footprint, water footprint, and ecological foot-
print are the most commonly used ones in the environmental assessment of industrial sys-
tems; which are correspondingly related to the hot issues of global warming, depletion of
water resources, and ecosystem destruction. Although the other footprints are not as popular
as the above-mentioned ones, they are still effective indicators in specific situations and can be
employed for particular goals, such as addressing the concerns regarding the energy utiliza-
tion, the emission reduction, and the land occupation, etc.