December 1996
1. Introduction
3. Data sources
4.1. Energy
4.2. Primary fuels
4.3. Air emissions
4.4. Water emissions
4.5. Solid waste
4.6. Raw materials
Appendix - Ecoprofile methodology
A1. Introduction
A2. Overview of ecoprofile methodology
A6. The nature of extended systems
A7. Fuels and energy
A8. The fuel producing industries
A9. Describing the performance of a system
A10.1. General principles
A10.2. Co-product allocation using mass
A10.3. Stoichiometric partitioning
A10.4. Hybrid allocation
A11.1. Steam co-product
A11.2. Steam condensate
A11.3. Co-generation of steam and electricity
A11.4. Waste incineration
A12. Calculating averages
A13.1. Data categories
A13.2. Energy data
A13.3. Emission data
A13.4. Raw materials inputs
A14. Interpreting results
Ecoprofiles are building blocks for use in life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies. While LCAs are often described as 'cradle-to-grave' studies, ecoprofiles, of the type reported here, can be regarded as 'cradle-to-gate' studies and form an essential input to LCAs. As with LCAs, ecoprofiles take into account materials and energy inputs and outputs in the form of emissions to land, air and water.
This report has been developed under an initiative of the CEFIC Sodium Chlorate Sector Group in order to respond to the general increasing concern of the environmental impact of the production process for sodium perborate monohydrate and tetrahydrate and to provide accurate, industry-based information for use by external researchers in need of data on the production of sodium chlorate.
The report has been produced as a collaborative exercise between Dr Ian Boustead (Boustead Consulting Ltd, U.K.) and Dr Matthias Fawer (EMPA - The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research), two independent experts in ecoprofile analysis.
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