title: Appreciating the role of thermodynamics in LCA improvement analysis via an application to titanium dioxide nanoparticles.
abstract: Although many regard it as the most important step of life cycle assessment, improvement analysis is given relatively little attention in the literature. Most available improvement approaches are highly subjective, and traditional LCA methods often do not account for resources other than fossil fuels. In this work exergy is evaluated as a thermodynamically rigorous way of identifying process improvement opportunities. As a case study, a novel process for producing titanium dioxide nanoparticles is considered. A traditional impact assessment, a first law energy analysis, and an exergy analysis are done at both the process and life cycle scales. The results indicate that exergy analysis provides insights not available via other methods, especially for identifying unit operations with the greatest potential for improvement. Exergetic resource accounting at the life cycle scale shows that other materials are at least as significant as fossil fuels for the production of TiO2 nanoparticles in this process.
authors.affiliation: William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.
authors.forename: Geoffrey F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Grubb
authors.forename: Bhavik R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Bakshi
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D008420:Manufactured Materials / Q000032:analysis / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000191:economics; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium