Pan & pro / EPAQ Conference

Porto – Sept 16,17 2010

LCA Analysis for steel construction products

JS Thomas, ArcelorMittal Global R&D

1

Context and challenges of Sustainable Development

Life Cycle Assessment in ArcelorMittal

Stakes for steel industry: the example of allocation for EoL recycling

Conclusion

reference 2

Sustainable Development: Context and Challenge

1. Measure!!2. Pro-actively anticipate and adapt offer

and performance to legislation evolution and customers needs

constraints

Post-carbon society

Zero Waste?

Env. reportSD Report

CSR Report

2000 2015 2050

Site specific

Product specific

City, area specific?

Service specific

Env. risks

GHGEnergy

Water

Biodiversity?

Social footprint

Inclusive business?

3

Context and challenges of Sustainable Development

Life Cycle Assessment in ArcelorMittal

Stakes for steel industry: the example of allocation for EoL recycling

Conclusion

LCA –Life Cycle Assessment (1)

Why is it important?

Principle

• Choices of consumers or decision-makers will be driven by the environmental performance of products and solutions

• Environmental labeling of products• Environmental product declaration in construction sector

• LCA is a reference methodology to assess this performance

Goals & Scope Definition

System Model

InventoryMaterials balance

Power balanceDirect emissions

Indirect emissions

Impact assessment

Results & Interpretation

LCA –Life Cycle Assessment (2)

LCA in ArcelorMittal

• Develop LCA of new steel solutions to challenge our performance and also competitive materials.

• Pro-actively defend steel positions in environmentalstandard and regulation development

• ‘Steel is a sustainable material’: communicate on environmental, economic and social benefits of the steel industry for the whole society

reference 7

AM expertise in LCA

Going further …• 3R’s : Reduce, reuse, recycle• Eco/Sustainable design

Calculation tools Environmental Product Declarations

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Réchauffementclimatique

EnergiePrimaire

Production des matériauxBesoins en chauffageBesoins en électricité

Full thermal analysis and LCA: GreenBuilding project

Dematerialisation … an example

EPD: french exampleSandwich panel with polyurethane foam

• Functional unit: 1 m² / year for 50 years• 12,62 kg/m²• French EPD (FDES – standard NF P01-010)

Results

Comments

• How is it calculated?• Which data has been used?• Is it critical, doctor?• How is it be used? How it will be used?

Tools for LCA: Environmental evaluation of bearing structures made of steel and concrete

• Work carried out with AM Esch (R&D long products)

Example: steel vs concrete

Example: steel vs concrete - results

Structure weight balance (t)

-

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Steel structure Concrete structure

Steel studs

Steel columns

Steel beams

Steel reinforct

Concrete beams

Global Warming Potential for the whole building (tCO2eq)

-50

-

50

100

150

200

Production ofSteel structure

Production ofConcretestructure

End of Life ofSteel structure

End of Life ofConcretestructure

Total structureof Steelstructure

Total structureof Concrete

structure

TransportSteel boltsSteel studsSteel columnsSteel beamsSteel deckingSteel reinforctConcrete beamsConcrete floor

Primary Energy Consumption for the whole building (GJ)

-500

-

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

Production ofSteel structure

Production ofConcretestructure

End of Life ofSteel structure

End of Life ofConcretestructure

Total structureof Steel

structure

Total structureof Concrete

structure

TransportSteel boltsSteel studsSteel columnsSteel beamsSteel deckingSteel reinforctConcrete beamsConcrete floor

Green Building project1. Materials Balance

Plans and Specifications study

● FU: The administrative building.

● Building Life time: 100 years.

● Study from cradle to grave.

● Study of GWP, Energy Consumption, Water Consumption.

Process tree inventory (credits: PE International)

Thermal Calculations with ComfieLCA

2. Building Model with Pléiades

3. LCA performance with Excel and Gabi

4. Results Comparisons, Interpretations and Conclusions.

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Test case Zoom

For villavenir about 150 data were needed to start the calculation

=> About 150 data were needed to start the

calculation

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Test case Zoom Contribution of the cycles of the life of the building

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Test case Zoom Impact per component of the building

Major conclusions so far for LCA in buildings

• Recycling rate and recycled content• Depending on the type of allocation methodology

• Bill of materials• Use Phase

• Thermal performance of the buildings

• Capture other benefits of steel products?• Prefabrication, easy to implement, no water needs, less

manufacture, …

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Context and challenges of Sustainable Development

Life Cycle Assessment in ArcelorMittal

Stakes for steel industry: the example of allocation for EoL recycling

Conclusion

Steel cycles

•Steel Overall Recycling Rate ~ 90%

Steel Overall Recycling Rates based upon North American data (Steel Recycling Institute 2005)

Steel can be indefinitely recycled in ANY type of application

Recycled content (RC)

End of life Recycling Rate (RR)

Resources

Recycled prodEr

Virgin prodEv

End of Life Ed

Product 1Usage

Recycled prodEr

Virgin prodEv

End of Life Ed

Product 2Usage

RC 1-RC

RR

1-RR

RC 1-RC

RR

1-RR

Which product gets the credit?The product receiving scrap (product2) or the product producing scrap (product 1)?

Allocation for reuse/recycling end of lifeWho get’s the credit?

The situation for CEN TC350Credit: J Bollen, AM

Use stage not considered for simplification since same functionality

Recycling in CEN/TC 350: how important?

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Context and challenges of Sustainable Development

Life Cycle Assessment in ArcelorMittal

Stakes for steel industry: the example of allocation for EoL recycling

Conclusion and perspectives

Conclusions and Perspectives• Several tools exist to assess the environmental impacts of steel products

in construction• Due to its specific properties, steel has a lot to offer to improve

environmental impact of buildings

• Methodologies are mainly (but not always) based on LCA– Current methods are limited and not perfect, they have to evolve

• They do not take time into account• They do not consider properly the up-scaling

(macroscopic analysis, rebound effect …)

• Environment is not the only stake – Social benefits, economical stakes have to be part of the process of

sustainable development

www.sovamat.org

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“The world cannot succeed without business as a committed solution provider to sustainable societies and ecosystems”

WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson

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Hypothesis

LCA• ISO 14040-44•The present analysis is based on a simplified Excel sheet. • It is based on the mass balance of the building and the thermal performance • The impact calculated are Global Warming Potential (GWP) in t CO2eq and Cumulated Energy Demand (CED) in GJ. •The functional unit considered is the whole building studied.•Life Cycle Inventories: recognized data sources like worldsteel for steel products, the ELCD database (European Life Cycle Database) or Ecoinvent database.•The life span of the building is 60 years

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Hypothesis

Thermal:•Thermal modelization is carried out with the Capsol software• Heating set point temperatures are fixed according the RT2005 and are equal to 16°C and 19°C;•Values of the thermal bridges were integrated into the U-values of the walls;•Air change rate equal to 1.5 vol.h-1;•Calculation of heat and cold demands, domestic hot water not taken into account;