Masayuki Sagisaka

Life cycle inventory analysis of co2 emissions manufacturing commodity plastics in japan

The goal of this study was to calculate the average CO2 emissions for manufacturing three commodity plastics, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Japan. The CO2 emissions were calculated from cradle to gate, excluding the calcination processes after use. As the results, the followings were observed:1) The gross CO2 emissions for the manufacture of plastics in Japan were 1.3, 1.4, and 1.7 kg-CO2/kg-PE, PP, and PVC, respectively. These mainly reflected the difference of CO2 emissions for the in-house electricity generation. 2) The CO2 emissions for the electricity used for manufacturing PVC were higher than that used for PE and PP, because additional electricity was required for the electrolysis to produce chlorine. The gross electricity consumption for manufacturing PVC was 1.3 kWh/kg-PVC, and the other plastics consumed 0.5 kWh/kg-Products. In addition, the effects of energy saving were studied using a projected gas-diffusion electrode for the electrolysis of salt on the reduction of CO2 emissions. It was estimated that the reduction in CO2 emissions was 7% compared with the present PVC manufacturing processes.

Sustainability Assessment of Biomass Utilisation in East Asian Countries

In order to provide decision-making methodology to evaluate sustainability of biomass utilisation in East Asian context, an expert working group has been formed since 2007 and has been conducting researches to assess the sustainability of biomass utilisation with the concept of triple bottom line focusing on environmental, economic and social pillars of sustainability. Based upon the methodology developed in 2008, the WG had conducted four pilot studies in India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in 2010 to field-test the methodology developed and investigate the sustainability of various feedstocks utilisation for biomass energy. This paper aims at introducing the sustainability assessment methodology the WG developed and addressing experiences and lessons learned through the pilot studies.