Approches towards Sustainability in Midstream

and Downstream Rubber Industry: Life Cycle

Assessment (LCA) and Environmental

Labeling

Dr. Zairossani Mohd. Nor

Processing and Pollution Research Unit

MALAYSIAN RUBBER BOARD

Seminar on Sustainability of Rubber Industry

2

Global Environmental Awareness

Negate impacts of anthropogenic activities on environment:

• Climate change

Reduce greenhouse gas emission and air-borne pollutants

• Depleting natural resources

Reduce resource consumption (abiotic)

• Health–related issues

Reduce the use of hazardous substances

• Accumulating solid wastes

Reduce resource consumption and waste recycling

Approaches:

I. Ecodesign or design for environment

II. Cleaner production (waste minimization, energy

efficiency, GMP and MFCA)

III. Communication through ecolabelling

3

Drivers of Environmental Awareness - LCA

Europe - EU policies such as IPP, REACH, EuP, RoHS

- Directives for Promotion of Renewable Energy

- Green Public Procurement

Japan + Law for a Sound Material-Cycle Society

+ Green Procurement Policy in government sector

+ Product Green Promotion Program

USA * USEPA Product Stewardship Program

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – Certified Emission

Reduction (Kyoto Protocol) (2008-2012)

Conceptual Approach of Sustainability

The Dominant Model

Dependency of economic, social and environmental aspects

(sustainability pillars)

Economy

Social

Environment

Sustainable

Development

Sustainable Development - Industrial Ecology

Life Cycle Assessment LCA is an environmental management method for the

quantitative evaluation of material resources invested,the environmental burden and the environmental impacton the earth of a product or service through all stages ofits life cycle (Narita, 2004)

LCA assess the environmental aspects and potentialimpact of a product through;

Compiling an inventory data concerning inputs andoutputs of a product system

Evaluating the potential environmental impactassociated with those inputs and outputs

Interpreting the results of the inventory analysis andimpact assessment phases in relation to theobjectives of the study

5

LCA – ‘Cradle to Grave’ Evaluation of Products

Resource Manufacturing Use/Repair Disposal

Reuse

Recycling

Life Cycle Stages

Calculations of Environmental Burdens• Burden on atmosphere (SO2, CO2, NOx)

• Burden on water (BOD, COD, Nitrogen, Phophorous, Metals)

Impact Assessment of Environment• Global warming, water pollution, health effects, acidification,

eutrophication

Effects of LCA• Preservation of environment, environmentally-sound (eco) products,

environmental labels, design for environment (DfE), recycling society6

7

Natural Rubber Industry

Upstream

(Plantation)

Midstream

(Processing)

Downstream

(manufacturing)

Raw Materials

• latex

• cuplumps

• sheet rubbers

(RSS, ADS)

Processed Rubber

• block rubber (TSR)

• latex concentrate

• specialty rubbers

Rubber & Rubber-

based Products

• tyres

• gloves

• GRG/IRG

Environmental Impact of Rubber Industry

Air Pollution & Malodour Issue

Sludge production from rubber

Product manufacturing

( 6.0 million kg / yr)

Release of CO2, NO2 and methane

in processing and manufacturing

Effluent discharge from

rubber processing

(55 million liters / day)

Effluent discharge from

rubber product manufacturing

(30 million liters / day)

Area/Objective Applications

Decision making

(Internal)

• Design and development for process/product

• Purchasing

• Support for regulatory measures and policy

instruments

• Avoid transfer of environmental burdens (EIA)

Learning/exploration

(Internal)

• Characterization of production systems

• Optimization tool

• Selection of environmental performance

indicators

Communications

(External)

• LCA based eco-labeling (ISO 14025)

• Environmental product declarations

• Benchmarking

• Indicator of sustainability

LCA Applications

9

ISO 14000 Series and LCA

ISO 14000 is a series of environmental standards which provide structure and tool for managing the environmental aspects/impacts of the organization’s activities

Trends in environmental management:

- Emphasis on sustainable development

- Life cycle thinking and LCA

- Ecodesign

- Eco-labelling

- Green procurement / Green purchasing10

ISO Environmental Framework

Environmental

Management

System

(ISO 14001/4)

Environmental

Performance

Evaluation

(ISO 14030s

Environmental

Auditing

(ISO 14010s)

Design for

Environment

(ISO 14062)

Life Cycle

Assessment

(ISO 14040s)

Labelling &

Marketing

(ISO 14020s)

Organizational

Focus

(Cost)

Product

Focus

(Revenue)

Environmental Communications

ISO/TC 207

SC1

EMS

SC2

EA

SC3

EL

SC4

EPE

SC5

LCA

SC7

CC

TCG

11

ISO 14024 ISO 14021 ISO 14025

Type IIIenvironmentaldeclarations

(LCA)

Type IIself-declared

environmentalclaims

Type Ienvironmental

labelling(third party certification)

Programoperators,

environmentallabelling Type I

Marketingconsultants,authorities,

Lawyers, courtetc.

Programoperators,

environmentalproduct declaration

Type III

Different Concepts & Target Groups

Environmental Labelling: ISO 14020 Series

Elements of LCA

Direct applications

e.g. product development

marketing

ecolabelling

public policy making

Goal & scope

definition

InterpretationInventory

analysis

Impact

assessment

(ISO 14040)

13

Inventory Analysis

Is an account of all masses and energy inputs and outputs to the life cycle system

An objective, data based process of quantifying energy and raw materials requirements, air emissions, waterborne effluents, solid waste and other environmental release incurred throughout the life cycle of a product (Svoboda, 1995)

Two types of inventory data (foreground and

background)

14

Impact Assessment (LCIA)

15

Raw Material

Acquisition

Production

Use

Disposal

Emissions

to air

Emissions

to water

CO2 •

CH4 •

CFCs •

SOx •

NOx •

NH3 •

HCl •

VOC •

PO43- •

NO3 •

BOD •

Global warming

Ozone layer depletion

Acidification

Photo Oxidation

Eutrophication

Human toxicity

LCIAInventory

(e.g. emission/kg)

Impact

Category

Better

Products?

16

14 1.5 7.3

601

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Glo

bal w

arm

ing

pote

ntai

l per

car

tyr

e (k

g

CO

2 eq

uiva

lent

)

Acquisition

of raw

material

Transport Production Use

GWP as an Impact Category for Production of

a Car Tyre

Source: Continental AG, Germany

17

Status of Environmentally - Friendly Tyres

Michelin

1. Michelin A2 Energy tyres (2006)

Reduce fuel cost by 6%, 20 – 40% increase in service life

Dunlop-Falken (Sumitomo)

1. ENASAVE ES 801 (2006)

Reduce rolling resistance by 30%, 70% petroleum-free

contents (44% in normal tyres)

2. ENASAVE 97 (2008)

Reduce rolling resistance by 35%, 97% petroleum-free

contents (44% in normal tyres)

18

Examples of LCA in Practice

LCA in Rubber Industry

• A right direction to achieve the common goal of emission reduction, waste reduction and adaptation of clean technology.

• Slowly gaining momentum as a solution to environmental problems especially in EU countries.

• Current focus more on LCA for car passenger tyre-based on European conditions

• ERTMA used LCA data as a basis for their product performance towards reducing the environmental impact.

19

Development of LCA for Block Rubber

Processing

Goals:

To establish the energy and material balance

for the production of 1200 kg (1 pallet) of

block rubber

To quantify the amount of CO2 emission as a

result of producing 1200 kg (1 pallet) of block

rubber

To quantify the carbon footprint of 1200 kg (1

pallet) production of block rubber

20

21

Natural Rubber Processing

Block Rubber Processing

LC Processing

Scope of Study

Functional unit in this proposal will be the

production of 1200 kg (1 pallet) of block rubber.

All masses and emissions calculation in this

proposal will be based on the defines functional

unit.

Environmental Impact categories to be studied

Global warming (CO2)

Eutrophication (BOD, NO3, PO4-3)

22

System boundary for LCA on Block Rubber

Processing

23

Data and Assumptions for LCACriteria Data/Estimation

Capacity of plantation 400 trees/ha

Life span of trees 25 years

Average yield (dry) 1400kg/ha/year

CO2 sequestered 20606 kg/ha/year

CO2 sequestered/ton of rubber 14718 kg

Fertilizer used 1kg/tree/year or 409 kg/ha/year

Fertilizer run off from plantation 30%

1 liter of diesel Emits 2.68 kg of CO2

1 kWh electricity Emits 0.43 kg of CO2

Diesel consumption for a 3-ton lorry 5.4 km/L

24

Input-Output Table for Plantation

Input Quantity Unit Output Quantity Unit

CO2

Sequestered

by tree

14718 Kg Latex/Field

grade (dry)

1000 Kg

CO2

Sequestered

by soil

…….. Kg CO2 2.68 Kg

Fertilizer 292 Kg Nitrate 10.5 Kg

Transportation

(Diesel)

1 L Phosphate 10.5 Kg

25

Input-Output Table for Block Rubber Production

Input Quantity Unit Output Quantity Unit

Latex/Field

grade (dry)

1200 Kg Block

rubber

1200 Kg

Electricity 300 kWh CO2325 Kg

Diesel 72 L Amm.

Nitrogen

1.9 Kg

Water 32.4 M3 BOD 3.2 Kg

Chemicals

(HNS)

1.8 Kg COD 8.16 Kg

Chemicals

(Formic acid)

7.2 Kg SS 3.37 Kg

Transportation

(diesel)

1 L Total N 2.49 Kg

Total Solid 13.6 Kg

26

Summary of Carbon Auditing

Boundary CO2

Sequestered

CO2 Emitted

Plantation -17661.6 3.2

Block Rubber

Production

325.0

Total -17333.4

27

Overall worldwide rubber plantation of 9.1 million ha sequesters

261 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere or 6.3%

absorption of the current rate of CO2 increase globally (MRB &

IRRDB)

Carbon Footprint Labelling in Practice

28

Limitations of LCA

The nature of choices and assumptions made in LCA (e.g. system boundary setting, selection of data sources and impact categories) may be subjective

Models used for inventory analysis or to assess environmental impacts are limited by their assumptions, and may not be available for all potential impacts or applications

Results of LCA studies focused on global and regional may not be appropriate for local application

The accuracy of LCA studies may be limited by accessibility or availability of relevant data, or by data quality

29

30

Challenges in Implementing LCA and

CFP

• Synergistic mechanism of economic growth with

environmental and social considerations are not easy for

developing economies (technically and support industry)

• The export market demands that govern the environmental

and social aspects of a product or service

• Introducing LCA and CFP do not necessarily translate into

increase in business or profits

• LCA has been more technological focus while business-

decision support require economic considerations

31

Impact of LCA and CFP on Rubber

Producing Economies

Environmental related specifications are potential non-tariff

barrier

Supply chain-driven requirements is a main driver of

environmental requirements of products

Voluntary environmental requirements in marketplace can

become commercial imperatives

Environmental features of products shifting from niche

markets to mainstream markets that are eco-positioning their

corporate image

Thank You

32