A Digital Twin-based Life Cycle Assessment framework Theoretical and Practical contribution

11/29/2022

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a generally accepted methodology to quantify the environmental impacts of products or systems. Nonetheless, various sources of uncertainty and complexity create barriers to its widespread adoption. Meanwhile, new technologies within the Industry 4.0 are offering innovative capabilities to overcome some of these challenges. Therefore, this work has three main objectives: (i) to review and identify research gaps in recent developments in the LCA methodology; (ii) to develop a Digital Twin (DT) based adapted LCA methodology; and (iii) to implement the methodology into a user-friendly, quick, robust and reliable DT-based LCA software. The methodology developed encompasses a theoretical proposal to adapt the traditional LCA, followed by a practical implementation and a proof-of-concept application, in a quest to develop a feasible DT-based LCA model. The practical implementation of this methodology led to a software named Towards an Online LCA for Bio-based processes (TOLCAB), providing a real-time LCA. This software targets the bio-based processing sector, but it is easily customisable for any sector. To demonstrate its capabilities, as a proof-of-concept, TOLCAB was applied in two case studies: the production of biodiesel from rapeseed and the production of the -Galactosidase enzyme. Although in its early stages of development, TOLCAB proved to be a valuable tool for quickly providing static and dynamic results using powerful visualisation tools. Nonetheless, this approach is a first step to bridging the gap between theoretical LCA capabilities and practical applications for industries under the digitalisation paradigm.

Authors in the community:

• 

  J

  João António Pamplona Mendes

  ist190657

Supervisors of this institution:

• 

  A

  Ana Isabel Cerqueira de Sousa Gouveia Carvalho

  ist149893

other-engineering-and-technologies - Other engineering and technologies

eng - English

Instituto Superior Técnico