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Microbial-derived natural bioproducts for a sustainable environment 75

Figure 3.5 Different types of systems involved in LCA methodology. LCA, Life-cycle
assessment.

2. Impact assessment (ISO 14042): The methodology involved to analyze the environmental
impact, such as climate change, eutrophication, or human toxicity associated with the
inventory data and characterize the impact level.
3. Interpretation (ISO 14043): Results from the inventory analysis and impact assessment
are summarized, drawing conclusions and recommendations for the study.
LCA studies consist of six different systems as shown in Fig. 3.5, but the most
commonly used systems are cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave (Akiyama et al.,
2003; Hottle et al., 2013; Tufvesson et al., 2013). The main difference in them is
the presence of the disposal phase in the cradle-to-grave that takes waste manage-
ment option into account which is excluded from the cradle-to-gate.
The popularity of sustainable or green-based products are increasing especially
the bioassociated (microbial) products, such as biopolymers, generated from the
biorefinery approaches as they capture a larger market share. It has been well estab-
lished that the biopolymers are renewable and biodegradable as compared to the
petroleum-based polymers but their production on industrial scale needs to be moni-
tored to understand their environmental or ecological performance that determines
their future production. Since the currently focused biopolymer has been PHAs/
PHBs, studies have directed the usage of LCA methodology as a sustainability tool
to check on the environmental benefits as well as cost analysis of the same
(Harding et al., 2007; Tabone et al., 2010; Hottle et al., 2013; Hohenschuh et al.,
2014; Narodoslawsky et al., 2015). LCA conducted on the PHAs has proved to be
advantageous as it helps in the avoidance of plastics accumulation in the