Improvement of the environmental profile of a moulded fibre packaging through life cycle management :|ba case study in Malaysia | |
| Author | Brissonneau, Delphine |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. EV-02-1 |
| Subject(s) | Product life cycle--Malaysia--Environmental aspects Waste paper--Recycling--Malaysia--Environmental aspects |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering. School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-02-1 |
| Abstract | This paper presents the results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of one kilogram of MFP (Moulded Fiber Packaging), that has been performed in order to identify sources of environmental impacts occurring along different phases of the lifecycle: resources extraction (forestry and pulp manufacturing), production, transportation, and disposal phase. Contribution to global warming, acidification, eutrophication, smog formation, heavy metals generation, and energy use has been included in the survey. The study has been performed for different scenario concerning the market of recycled paper (unsaturated or saturated market) in order to be able to include impacts from the forestry and pulp manufacturing as no accurate data regarding origin of paper used at Haitmann-Malaysia were available. Moreover, the disposal phase has been analysed under the form of different scenario, as the fate for the packaging products is unknown. Thus the survey appears as a sensitivity analysis study that gives the range of environmental impacts associate to MFP. LCA study reveals that the most contributing phase with respect to environmental impacts is the production phase of the moulded fibre packaging. Its contribution ranges from 39% to 84% according to the environmental impact considered. Transportation should not be neglected in term of contribution to acidification and eutrophication. A deeper analysis of the production process has demonstrated that the drying process is responsible of approximately 50% of the total potential impacts due to the consumption of natural gas and its combustion in an air heater. More generally, energy consumption is the key parameter that needs to be reduced in order to improved the environmental profile of MFP. Thus LCM activities to diminish environmental burden associated to MFP should focus on: • Reduction of cut-off and waste production, in order to avoid pulping, moulding and drying of non-saleable products. This diminution of internal recycling rate will lead to a reduction of the consumption of electricity, water and natural gas. Such change can be achieved by redesigning the mould, optimising the production planning, and reduce the production break-off. • The use of solar energy as the source of energy to heat the air supplied in the dryer. Utilization of flat plate collectors as well as pai·abolic collectors has been suggested to reduce the consumption of natural gas and emissions from its combustion. Overall impact reductions compared to the reference system (unsaturated market100%landfill scenario) can vary from 10% to 51 % depending on the measure implemented and the impact category considered |
| Year | 2002 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis; no. EV-02-1 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nielsen, Per H.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nazhad, Mousa M. ;Lee, Seung-Hwan ;Trankler, Josef; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | European Commission Postgraduate Technological Studies Program; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology |