Transcript Slide 1

Environmental Footprint Calculator (EFC)
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What is the Best Choice for My Business?
Solvent
Processing?
Thermal
Processing?
Liquid
Processing?
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One Size Fits All?
• A printer’s choice of plate
processing technology
depends upon several
factors:
– Graphic Requirements
– Ink Compatibility
– Available Equipment
Footprint
– Most Important
Environmental Impacts
• No one solution works for
everyone
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Variables
• How do the following variables affect the environmental impact of
various plate processing technologies?
•Geographic location?
•Plate gauge?
•Plate size?
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UT Center for Clean Products
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Established in 1992
A multi-disciplinary research center housed within UT
Dedicated to the development, evaluation, and adoption of clean products and
materials
Conducted several projects within the printing industry, including a pollution
prevention project for the Gravure Association of America
Conducted a number of corporate endeavors where they have developed
environmental impact calculators that evaluate the overall environmental impacts
associated with the manufacture, use and disposal of various products
ecoform
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Founded in 2006
Practitioners working through a variety of corporate and university organizations,
including the University of Tennessee’s Center for Clean Products
Has worked with organizations such as Rubbermaid Commercial Products,
Evercare, and the Natural Stone Council
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Definition: Life Cycle Assessment
• The investigation and evaluation of the environmental
impacts of a given product or service caused or necessitated
by its existence.
Source: www.epa.gov
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The LCA Process
Life Cycle Assessment Framework
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Goal Definition & Scoping
Goal
Definition &
Scope
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Inventory Analysis
Inventory
Analysis
•
Impact Assessment
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Interpretation
Interpretation
Impact
Assessment
Source: Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Practice, EPA
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The LCA Process
Life Cycle Assessment Framework
•
Goal Definition & Scoping
Goal
Definition &
Scope
•
Inventory Analysis
Inventory
Analysis
•
Impact Assessment
•
Interpretation
Interpretation
Impact
Assessment
Source: Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Practice, EPA
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Goal and Scope
• Goal:
– To develop an interactive sustainability tool that will enable
users to determine the relative environmental impacts of digital
solvent, digital thermal and liquid plate processing while
incorporating customer-specific variables such as geographic
location, plate gauge, plate size and number of plates.
• Scope:
– Raw material production and processing
– Production of the photopolymer material
– Processing of the photopolymer plate
.
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Scope
Plate
manufacture
Plate
Mounting
Imaging
Within Scope
Waste
Recycled
Printing
Converting
Outside Scope
Waste
Waste
Waste
Note: Transportation of raw materials was not included within the scope of this study
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The LCA Process
•
Goal Definition & Scoping
Life Cycle Assessment Framework
•
Inventory Analysis
•
Impact Assessment
Goal
Definition &
Scope
Inventory
Analysis
•
Interpretation
Interpretation
Impact
Assessment
Source: Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Practice, EPA
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Inventory Analysis
• Data Collection and Modeling of the Product System
• Description and Verification of Data
• Inputs
– Materials
– Energy
– Chemicals
• Outputs:
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Air emissions
Water emissions
Solid Waste
Final product
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Assumptions
• A steady state of
production
• A production rate of 80%
maximum capacity at
largest format available
for each processing
method
• A 50% image area
• 50% relief
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Photopolymer Manufacturer Workflow
Energy
Inputs
Raw materials
Manufacturing Process
Photopolymer
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Outputs
Waste
Sheet Photopolymer – Digital Solvent Processing
Digital
Plate
Inputs
Electrical Power
Clean
Solvent
Laser
Imager
PET
coversheet
UV
Exposure
Dust
(negligible)
Washout
90% recovery
Distillation
Clean
Solvent
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PX/DT
Solvent
Vapor
Outputs
Dirty solvent
(Solvent
+ dissolved
photopolymer)
Dryer
Still bottoms
(haz waste)
Finished
Plate
Sheet Photopolymer – Digital Thermal Processing
Digital
Plate
Inputs
Electrical Power
Blotter
material
Laser
Imager
PET
coversheet
Carbon
dust
(negligible)
UV
Exposure
LAVA
System
Organic
vapors
Clean
air
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Used
blotter
Used
filter w/
captured
organics
Finished
Plate
Outputs
C Filter
PX/DT
Liquid Photopolymer
Liquid
photopolymer
1. Film negative
2. Coverlay
3. PET substrate
Casting +
Exposure
Water +
Detergent
Reclaim
Water +
salts
Washout
PX
Rinse
water
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Dryer
DT
Rinse
water
Water +
Salts
Water
vapor
Finished
Plate
Outputs
Soluble
Photopolymer
In water
Disposal
Inputs
Electrical Power
The LCA Process
Life Cycle Assessment Framework
•
Goal Definition & Scoping
Goal
Definition &
Scope
•
Inventory Analysis
Inventory
Analysis
•
Impact Assessment
•
Interpretation
Interpretation
Impact
Assessment
Source: Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Practice, EPA
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Impact Categories
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Energy Consumption: The total quantity of energy consumed within the life cycle of the
product.
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Water Consumption: The total quantity of water consumed within the life cycle of the product
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Acidification of Water: The process by which the pH of a body of water is decreased due to
the entry of acidifying compounds, particularly nitric acid (HNO3) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
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Eutrophication of Water: The process of nutrient enrichment [namely phosphorous (P) and
nitrogen (N)]. The increased food supply results in extensive growth of algae, in turn causing
highly turbid water.
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Global Warming: An increase in the planet’s average tropospheric temperature. To some
extent, this occurs naturally on earth, but is exacerbated by the excess of heat trapping
compunds – known as greenhouse gases – in the earth’s atmosphere.
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Ozone Depletion: Refers to the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer which filters out
the most intense ultraviolet light from the sun’s radiant energy.
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Smog Generation: The formation of photochemical smog in the troposphere. Smog forms from
the reaction of nitric oxide (NO), oxygen (O2), and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) in the
presence of sunlight.
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Environmental Footprint Calculator (EFC)
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Energy Grids
100
90
Others
Portion of Grid (%)
80
Wind
70
Solar
60
Hydro
50
Geothermal
40
30
Waste
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Peat
10
Solid biomass
en
tra
en
tra
Gaseous
biomass
Nuclear
ou
or
th
th
C
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At
la
Natural gas
Heavy fuel oil
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Hard coal
Brown coal
Nation or Region of United States
Figure 1. Composition of energy grids used for the MacDermid Environmental Footprint Calculator.
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Blast furnace gas
The LCA Process
Life Cycle Assessment Framework
•
Goal Definition & Scoping
Goal
Definition &
Scope
•
Inventory Analysis
Inventory
Analysis
•
Impact Assessment
•
Interpretation
Interpretation
Impact
Assessment
Source: Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Practice, EPA
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Interpretation: Key Findings
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In terms of environmental impacts, generally speaking: . .
Solvent > Thermal > Liquid
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Interpretation
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Compared to Solvent Processing
– Liquid processing results in higher water consumption and smog generation,
but has significantly lower impacts in all other categories.
– Thermal processing has a slightly higher impact on eutrophication of water but
has significantly lower impacts in all other categories.
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Compared to Thermal Processing
– Both liquid and solvent processing use much more water
– Liquid processing consumes less energy and contributes fewer CO2 emissions
to the atmosphere (Global Warming Impact).
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Compared to Liquid Processing
– Both solvent and thermal processing use much more energy than liquid
processing
– Thermal processing produces fewer kgs of CFC equivalents (ozone depletion)
than liquid platemaking.
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Reasons Why
Liquid Platemaking generally has a smaller environmental footprint
than solvent and thermal processing because:
• No solvents are used
• Un-imaged photopolymer can be reclaimed
Thermal Processing generally has a smaller environmental footprint
than solvent because:
• Energy usage required by the still
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Reasons Why: Energy Use
Solvent Processing Workflow
x x x
Thermal Processing Workflow
x
x x x
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x
Looking Forward
• First Iteration of the EFC
• Will continue to refine data as we
move forward
• Collection of raw material LCA input
data growing more complete
• EFC creates areas for improvement
(i.e., water usage in Liquid)
• Recycling photopolymer materials at
end-of-life
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Thank You!
Heather P. Barrett
MacDermid Printing Solutions
[email protected]
404.699.3338
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