Estimating environmental impacts of early-stage bioprocesses.

The use of bioprocesses in industrial production promises resource- and energy-efficient processes starting from renewable, nonfossil feedstocks. Thus, the environmental benefits must be demonstrated, ideally in the early development phase with standardized methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA). Herein we discuss selected LCA studies of early-stage bioprocesses, highlighting their potential and contribution to estimating environmental impacts and decision support in bioprocess development. However, LCAs are rarely performed among bioprocess engineers due to challenges such as data availability and process uncertainties. To address this issue, recommendations are provided for conducting LCAs of early-stage bioprocesses. Opportunities are identified to facilitate future applicability, for example, by establishing dedicated bioprocess databases that could enable the use of LCAs as standard tools for bioprocess engineers.

Nitrogen in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of agricultural crop production systems: Comparative analysis of regionalization approaches.

Assessing reactive nitrogen (Nr) flows resulting from agricultural crop production systems (ACPS) with LCA requires regionalization. However, methodological approaches for regionalized LCA of ACPS may not necessarily reflect a comprehensive picture of Nr compounds and their complex interaction with the environment. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the consideration of Nr in methodological approaches for regionalized LCA applied to ACPS. We conducted a review comprehending scientific literature on regionalization approaches applied to ACPS and compared these with general requirements of LCA and the scientific background of the N-cycle following the LCA framework. Special focus was placed on the analysis of process-based models (PBM) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods. We derived key factors relevant for a regional assessment of N flows in LCA and compared these to 23 regionalization approaches applied to ACPS. Main obstacles identified to conduct a regionalized LCA for ACPS involved the consideration of different regional scales and thus a missing common regionalization approach suitable for ACPS. Although, N related key-factors were mainly considered by the analyzed approaches in the different LCA phases, critical points involved the consideration of N field emissions and N impact assessment. Based on these findings, practical recommendations were given. Our comprehensive review provides relevant requirements for an improved regional N assessment in regionalized LCA of ACPS and aims to present a realistic picture when comparing different alternatives considering N specific regional impacts.