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(81-10) Update of characterisation factors for abiotic resource depletion in LCA. Guinée, Jeroen*,1, van Oers, Lauran1, Huppes, Gjalt1, de Koning, Arjan1, 1 Centre of Environmental Science (CML), Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, Leiden, The Netherlands ABSTRACT- In the study update of characterisation factors for abiotic resources an inventory has been made of possible improvement options of the present baseline method to assess depletion of abiotic resources (an adapted version the baseline method advised in the new Dutch LCA guide) focusing on the calculation of factors for compounds (in contrast to elements). Characterisation factors will be derived for a limited list of resources (10 to 15) in order to assess the appropriateness and feasibility of the different options. The selected resources will also be used to analyse the sensitivity in choice of the different approaches on the final assessment of abiotic resource depletion. In the study special attention is given to the estimation of the size of the reserves and the potential functions of the resources. The size of the reserves depends on what is considered to be technically and economically feasible. A distinction is made between reserve ultimate (resources in the earth crust), reserve base (resources that have a reasonable potential for becoming economically and technically available) and reserve (part of the reserve base which could be economically extracted or produced at the time of determination). After one or more industrial transformation steps, abiotic resources fulfil various valuable functions for man kind. These functions are the reason for their extraction and they may be delivered by elements, by compounds (that is a specific chemical and/or physical composition of elements), or by a physical appearance independent of elements or compounds. Therefore, it may be useful to distinguish sub-impact categories under the heading of abiotic resources. An initial proposal for this has been developed, i.e the grouping of resources into 3 sub-categories: resources for I) further industrial processing (elements and compounds), II) construction, III) energy supply. Between these subcategories and maybe even within a subsequent weighting step may be needed. Key words: lca impact assessment, abiotic resource depletion, characterisation factors, functional approach |
