How Green is That Product?

An Introduction to Life Cycle Environmental Assessment

Homework #3 Solutions
Correct Answers in Red
Goals: In this assignment, youll do the following:

reinforce goal definition concepts;

identify key elements of a system boundary diagram; and
work with system mass balance equations and determine what system conditions are required
to ensure that recycling makes sense.

Instructions: The questions below can be answered offline. When you complete the assignment, return
to the Week 3 course page on the Coursera website. Click on the Submit Homework Assignment
Answers button, which will allow you to enter your answers into a web form for automated grading.
Grading: This assignment is worth 100 points. The point values of each answer are listed below. You
can submit a maximum of 30 attempts. The highest scoring attempt that is submitted before the
deadline will count toward your official grade. Scores for each attempt will be available immediately
after submission of your answers.
Numbers: In this assignment, and throughout this course, numbers will be expressed using the U.S.
numeric convention where commas separate thousands and the dot (or decimal point) is the decimal
separator. For example, the number one thousand two hundred and one-tenth is written 1,200.1.
Goal definition (7.5 points for each correct answer)
The following table contains three columns with representative descriptions of intended applications,
study purposes, and target audiences listed in random orders.
Intended applications
A) Enable product eco-label
certification
B) Identify environmental hot
spots in the product life cycle
C) Compare two different
products
D) Support public policies on
waste management

Study purpose
E) Choose recycling, landfill, or
incineration for local waste
management policy
F) Identify the greener product
to recommend to consumers
G) Determine priority life cycle
stages and/or environmental
impacts for future study
H) Establish and certify the
product carbon footprint

Target audience
I) Product manufacturer

J) Policy makers
K) Consumers

L) Internal staff for knowledge

generation

Your job is to choose the strongest combinations of these three goal definition elements such that all
descriptions are used only once. This process will result in 4 combinations containing three definitions

in each combination. You should choose the BEST combinations such that your chosen intended
applications, purpose, and target audience align with and support each other very closely.
Question 1: For intended application A, which combination is BEST?

AHK
AFJ
AHI
AGL

Question 2: For intended application B, which combination is BEST?

BEI
BGL
BGK
BHJ

Question 3: For intended application C, which combination is BEST?

CHL
CHI
CEK
CFK

Question 4: For intended application D, which combination is BEST?

DGL
DFL
DEJ
DFK

System boundary diagrams (10 points for each correct answer)

The following figure depicts a (very!) simplified unit process system for the life cycle of a cotton fabric
shirt, which includes both foreground and background processes. Each unit process has been labeled
with a letter. Refer to this figure when answering the questions below.

Question 5: Which unit processes might typically be considered FOREGROUND processes in the cotton
shirt life cycle? Select the BEST answer from the available options below.

Processes A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Processes A D E G H J L M
Processes B C F I K
Processes A B D E F G H J K L

Question 6: Which unit processes might typically be considered BACKGROUND processes in the cotton
shirt life cycle? Select the BEST answer from the available options below.

Processes B C I F K
Processes B I
Processes C F K
Processes A D M

Question 7: Which BACKGROUND unit processes might typically be excluded from the cotton shirt life
cycle due to cut-off rules that are commonly applied in LCA practice? Select the BEST answer from the
available options below.

Processes B I
Processes B C
Processes K B
Processes C F

As mentioned in the lecture notes, in an LCA the choice of foreground and background processes can
vary between analysts and specific systems under study. In practice, one tries to treat all unit processes
over which one may have direct control in the real-world system, or those which drive the performance
of the real-world system, as foreground processes to ensure that the highest quality data are used for
the processes of greatest importance and influence. In the example above, the correct options were
really the only options that were logically consistent among the answers for a given question, which
made your job in this homework a bit easier than it might be if you had to analyze this system in the real
world!

Mass balancing (20 points for each correct answer)

In Lecture 6 we considered two different systems when discussing mass balancing concepts: (1) a simple
once-through system for the plastic bag with landfill disposal; and (2) a system in which a fraction of
plastic bags is collected and recycled. In this problem, youll consider a coupled system that collects and
recycles discarded plastic bags into a secondary product, such as recycled floor tiles. This system is
depicted in the figure below, where dashed lines represent waste mass flows:

If your algebra is a bit rusty, this problem might take some time and effort to solve. However, it will be
worth the effort, because it will give you practice with balancing mass flows in a system and using a
simple model to better understand and explain the behavior of the physical systems you are analyzing.
You can solve this problem by working out the algebra on paper and/or by setting up your system mass
model in a simple spreadsheet. Both approaches are highly encouraged.
First, determine and denote all missing mass flows in the diagram, which are labeled with a question
mark (?). Use the following parameters to denote recovery fractions:

w = recovery fraction for resource extraction process 1 (i.e., this is the mass quantity sent to
material manufacture)
x = recovery fraction for material manufacturing process 2 (i.e., this is the mass quantity sent to
material use)
y = recovery fraction for material use process 3 (i.e., this is the mass quantity collected for
recycling)
z = recovery fraction for recycling process 5 (i.e., this is the mass quantity recycled into the floor
time material manufacturing process from the collected HDPE plastic bag waste)

Second, lets designate the following values for each mass flow parameter in the system.

w = 0.98
x = 0.95
y = 0.5
z = 0.8
m = 1000 kg
M = 1000 kg

Question 8: Using the parameter values above, how many kg of mass must resource extraction process
6 extract from nature? When you submit your answer online, enter the numerical value only (i.e., no
units). Use one decimal place after the decimal separator in your answer (XXX.X).
627.6 kg of mass extracted (see below for calculations)
If youve set up your mass flow model properly, you can observe that when the values of y and z go up,
less mass must be extracted from nature in unit process 6 to make floor tiles. Try this yourself by
plugging in high values for y and z (e.g., 0.9 for each) and comparing your result to your answer to
Question 8. In other words, the greater the mass of waste HDPE grocery bags were able to recycle, the
less virgin resource mass we must extract from nature in order to manufacture floor tiles. This is a key
benefit of recycling!
Third, lets now designate the following parameters to represent the energy intensity of each unit
process, where energy intensity is defined as the MJ of primary energy required per unit of mass input
into the process (MJ/kg):

e1 = 30
e2 = 20
e3 = e8 = 0
e4 = e9 = 10
e6 = 40
e7 = 20

Question 9: Using the parameter values above, what is the maximum energy intensity value of e5 that is
allowable beyond which collection and recycling would no longer save energy compared to simply
sending all mass in the system to landfill? When you submit your answer online, enter the numerical
value only (i.e., no units). Use one decimal place after the decimal separator in your answer (XX.X).
40.0 MJ/kg (see below for calculations)
Hint: To solve this problem, you need to use your simple model to assess two different scenarios. In the
first scenario, you must calculate the total system energy use assuming no recycling occurs and all mass
in the system is sent to landfill at the end of life stage. To do this, you will use all parameter values
provided above, except you will set the value of y to zero (i.e., no recycling) and note that doing so

means no mass is sent to unit process 5 (i.e., the unknown parameter e5 is eliminated through
multiplication by zero). Your result for Scenario 1 will quantify the total energy use of the system when
all mass is simply landfilled. In the second scenario, you must calculate the total system energy use
assuming that recycling occurs. To do this, use all parameter values provided above, including y = 0.5,
which is the recovery fraction of mass collected in the recycling scenario. Your result should be an
expression containing e5 as the only unknown. Finally, recall from the Lecture 6 Supplement video that
for recycling to provide societal benefits, the total impacts of Scenario 2 (recycling) must be less than the
total impacts of Scenario 1 (landfill). In this problem, the impact of interest is total system energy use.
Thus, youll need to solve for the value of maximum value of e5 in Scenario 2 beyond which Scenario 2
does not save energy compared to Scenario 1. Good luck!
The missing mass flows are as follows, which we arrive at by ensuring mass is conserved across each unit
process:

Question 8: Here we simply solve for the mass flow into process 6 as follows:
M wxyzm = (1000 kg) (0.98*0.95*0.5*0.8*1000 kg) = 627.6 kg
Question 9: Following the hint, we must first calculate the energy use associated with the uncoupled,
once-through systems for HDPE bags and floor tiles with no recycling. In this case, the recovery fraction
y is equal to zero (i.e., no recycling occurs).
Energy use of once-through system for HDPE bags
me1 + wme2 + wxme3 + (1-wxyz)me4 =
1000 kg * (30 + 0.98*20 + 0.98*0.95*0 + (1-0.98*0.95*0*0.8)*10) (MJ/kg) = 59,600 MJ

Energy use of once-through system for floor tiles

(M-wxyzm)e6 + (M-wxyzm)e7 + Me8 + Me9 =
(1000 kg - 0.98*0.95*0*0.8*1000 kg) * 40 MJ/kg + (1000 kg - 0.98*0.95*0*0.8*1000 kg) * 20 MJ/kg +
1000 kg * 0 MJ/kg + 1000 kg * 10 MJ/kg = 70,000 MJ
In total, to produce and consume 1000 kg of HDPE bags and 1000 kg of virgin floor tiles with no recycling
requires 59,600 + 70,000 = 129,600 MJ. So, if the total energy use of the coupled system with recycling
exceeds 129,600 MJ, it means that recycling does not save energy compared to the original independent
once-through systems.
So, now we solve for the maximum value of e5 in our coupled system with recycling as follows:
me1 + wme2 + wxme3 + (1-wxyz)me4 + wxyme5 + (M-wxyzm)e6 + Me7 + Me8 + Me9 < 129,600 MJ
(30,000 + 19,600 + 0 + 6,276 + 25,104 + 20,000 + 0 + 10,000) MJ + 465.5e 5 < 129,600 MJ
e5 < [129,600 30,000 19,600 6,276 25,104 20,000 10,000]MJ/465.5 kg = 40 MJ/kg