Program Overview
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND ECODESIGN
Course Overview
The course covers concepts related to sustainability and life cycle assessment as tools to evaluate the potential impacts along the life cycle of a product for ecodesign purposes.
Aims and Content
Learning Outcomes
- Learn about sustainability, life cycle thinking, and life cycle assessment as a tool to evaluate potential impacts along the life-cycle of a product for ecodesign purposes.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key steps of ecodesign.
- Apply competently the basic principles of Life Cycle Thinking.
- Design and assess the sustainability of a product or a process plant using simulation tools.
- Work effectively as a member of an ecodesign team, developing making judgments, learning, and communication skills, illustrating an industrial case study.
Prerequisites
The course has no specific prerequisites. However, for successful learning, basic knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, and physics is required.
Teaching Methods
The course includes oral lessons, exercises, educational field trips, and the use of simulation software. Novel tools will be used for active learning, aiming to increase students' skills via interactive, experience-based learning methodologies.
Syllabus/Content
- Ecodesign: Incorporating environmental considerations into the design process. Life Cycle Thinking. Sustainability in process engineering design.
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): ISO standards. LCA phases: goal and scope definition; inventory analysis; impact assessment; interpretation. LCA applications.
- Life cycle modeling through supporting tools: Presentation of tools used to collect, analyze, and monitor the sustainability performance data of products and services.
- Case Studies: Ecodesign case studies will be carried out using LCA software packages.
- Group Project: Teams of students will carry out an ecodesign case study, presenting findings and conclusions at various stages and submitting a final report for assessment.
Recommended Reading/Bibliography
Teaching material and exercises will be available on the Aulaweb platform. Recommended texts include:
- Gerardo Ruiz Mercado, Heriberto Cabezas. Sustainability in the Design, Synthesis and Analysis of Chemical Engineering Processes. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2016
- ISO Standards
- ILCD handbook (International Reference Life Cycle Data System). General guide for Life Cycle Assessment Detailed guidance. JRC European Commission
Teachers and Exam Board
- ADRIANA DEL BORGHI
- Office Hours: By appointment
Lessons
Lessons Start
The timetable for this course is available on the Portale EasyAcademy.
Exams
Exam Description
The exam consists of a project ecodesign presentation and an oral examination. The project ecodesign involves realizing and presenting the outcome of a Life Cycle Assessment study of an industrial process chosen by the student.
Assessment Methods
The learning outcomes are assessed through the presentation of a project ecodesign and an oral exam. The project design involves:
- Choosing a process/plant/supply chain.
- Analyzing the process through a Life Cycle Assessment study.
- Identifying significant environmental aspects.
- Proposing plant/process/supply chain alternatives and studying the obtained improvements.
- Drawing up a sustainability report.
The ecodesign project will be presented during the oral examination, evaluating skills to apply learning to specific case studies and critically analyze processes from a comprehensive and holistic point of view.
Further Information
Working students and students with special educational needs are advised to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and examination methods that take into account individual learning modalities.
Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goals
The course contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals:
- Affordable and clean energy
- Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action