Marson Alessandro, Masiero Massimiliano, Modesti Michele, Scipioni Antonio, Manzardo Alessandro
CESQA (Quality and Environmental Research Centre), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy.
ACS Omega. 2021 Jan 7;6(2):1718-1724. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c05844. eCollection 2021 Jan 19.
In this research, the results of the life cycle assessment of polyurethane (PUR) foams with different recycled polyol contents are presented. A methodological framework implementing laboratory activities directly into the life cycle assessment has been developed. Laboratory activities made the primary data related to the recycled polyol production available through the glycolysis of polyurethane scraps and the subsequent production and characterization of the foams. Five different formulations were analyzed with glycolyzed polyol content ranging from 0 to 100%. A comprehensive set of impact categories was considered. To ensure the robustness of the results, the influence of two different end-of-life allocation approaches was investigated, and the model was subjected to sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Formulations with recycled content of 50 and 75% scored better environmental impacts compared to others. The main contributions to the overall impact resulted to be related to the production of isocyanate and virgin polyol. Physical characteristics such as density and thermal conductivity emerged as the main variables to be considered to minimize the overall environmental impacts of PUR foams.
本研究展示了不同回收多元醇含量的聚氨酯（PUR）泡沫的生命周期评估结果。已开发出一个将实验室活动直接纳入生命周期评估的方法框架。实验室活动通过聚氨酯废料的糖酵解以及随后泡沫的生产和表征，提供了与回收多元醇生产相关的主要数据。分析了五种不同配方，其中糖酵解多元醇含量范围为0至100%。考虑了一套全面的影响类别。为确保结果的稳健性，研究了两种不同的报废分配方法的影响，并对模型进行了敏感性和不确定性分析。回收含量为50%和75%的配方在环境影响方面比其他配方表现更好。对总体影响的主要贡献与异氰酸酯和原始多元醇的生产有关。密度和热导率等物理特性成为在尽量减少PUR泡沫总体环境影响时需考虑的主要变量。
