Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab

P. Antwi-Afari; S.T. Ng; J. Chen; B.I. Oluleye; M.F. Antwi-Afari; B.K. Ababio

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110411

Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab

P. Antwi-Afari, S.T. Ng, J. Chen, B.I. Oluleye, M.F. Antwi-Afari, B.K. Ababio

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential method to evaluate materials' environmental impact. However, using LCA for assessing other dimensions of circular economy (CE), such as the technical, social, system, and functional dimensions, is fraught with several challenges. In this study, the LCA system boundary was extended to cradle-to-cradle and combined with the predictive building systemic circularity indicator to determine the environmental, technical, functional, and system dimensions of different case scenarios of the product system of a modular steel slab of a residential building in China. It was identified that the base scenario of the case slab could lead to about 50.4% of the mass of the slab being recyclable at EoL. In comparison, 0%, 70.8%, and 38.8% of the mass of the slab being recyclable were recorded for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The environmental impact of the scenarios showed that the base scenario would induce 38.64 kg CO2/m2 in global warming potential, while 68.2, 28.2, and 44.95 kg CO2/m2 were noted for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The simple additive weighting method was used to select the optimal scenario for the product system of the case slab. Adopting the optimal scenario for the case slab should lead to positive impacts and high recoverability at EoL. Implementing this iterative integrative method for assessing product systems enables considering the environmental, technical, systems, and functional dimensions of CE in assessments, which should lead to inclusive, sustainable decision-making.

Original language	English
Article number	110411
Number of pages	14
Journal	Building and Environment
Volume	239
Early online date	18 May 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110411
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2023. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government for financially supporting this study through the Collaborative Research Fund (Grant No.: C7047-20GF ). The paper also forms a part of a Ph.D. research project currently undertaken by the first author under the University Grants Committee's Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme (PF18-17313). Part of the work has been presented at the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference.

Keywords

Circular economy
Construction industry
Cradle-to-Cradle
Life cycle assessment
Modular building
Steel slab

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10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110411

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title = "Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab",

abstract = "Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential method to evaluate materials' environmental impact. However, using LCA for assessing other dimensions of circular economy (CE), such as the technical, social, system, and functional dimensions, is fraught with several challenges. In this study, the LCA system boundary was extended to cradle-to-cradle and combined with the predictive building systemic circularity indicator to determine the environmental, technical, functional, and system dimensions of different case scenarios of the product system of a modular steel slab of a residential building in China. It was identified that the base scenario of the case slab could lead to about 50.4% of the mass of the slab being recyclable at EoL. In comparison, 0%, 70.8%, and 38.8% of the mass of the slab being recyclable were recorded for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The environmental impact of the scenarios showed that the base scenario would induce 38.64 kg CO2/m2 in global warming potential, while 68.2, 28.2, and 44.95 kg CO2/m2 were noted for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The simple additive weighting method was used to select the optimal scenario for the product system of the case slab. Adopting the optimal scenario for the case slab should lead to positive impacts and high recoverability at EoL. Implementing this iterative integrative method for assessing product systems enables considering the environmental, technical, systems, and functional dimensions of CE in assessments, which should lead to inclusive, sustainable decision-making.",

keywords = "Circular economy, Construction industry, Cradle-to-Cradle, Life cycle assessment, Modular building, Steel slab",

author = "P. Antwi-Afari and S.T. Ng and J. Chen and B.I. Oluleye and M.F. Antwi-Afari and B.K. Ababio",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2023. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government for financially supporting this study through the Collaborative Research Fund (Grant No.: C7047-20GF ). The paper also forms a part of a Ph.D. research project currently undertaken by the first author under the University Grants Committee's Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme (PF18-17313). Part of the work has been presented at the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference. ",

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doi = "10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110411",

language = "English",

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T1 - Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab

AU - Antwi-Afari, P.

AU - Ng, S.T.

AU - Chen, J.

AU - Oluleye, B.I.

AU - Antwi-Afari, M.F.

AU - Ababio, B.K.

N1 - Copyright © 2023. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government for financially supporting this study through the Collaborative Research Fund (Grant No.: C7047-20GF ). The paper also forms a part of a Ph.D. research project currently undertaken by the first author under the University Grants Committee's Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme (PF18-17313). Part of the work has been presented at the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference.

PY - 2023/7/1

Y1 - 2023/7/1

N2 - Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential method to evaluate materials' environmental impact. However, using LCA for assessing other dimensions of circular economy (CE), such as the technical, social, system, and functional dimensions, is fraught with several challenges. In this study, the LCA system boundary was extended to cradle-to-cradle and combined with the predictive building systemic circularity indicator to determine the environmental, technical, functional, and system dimensions of different case scenarios of the product system of a modular steel slab of a residential building in China. It was identified that the base scenario of the case slab could lead to about 50.4% of the mass of the slab being recyclable at EoL. In comparison, 0%, 70.8%, and 38.8% of the mass of the slab being recyclable were recorded for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The environmental impact of the scenarios showed that the base scenario would induce 38.64 kg CO2/m2 in global warming potential, while 68.2, 28.2, and 44.95 kg CO2/m2 were noted for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The simple additive weighting method was used to select the optimal scenario for the product system of the case slab. Adopting the optimal scenario for the case slab should lead to positive impacts and high recoverability at EoL. Implementing this iterative integrative method for assessing product systems enables considering the environmental, technical, systems, and functional dimensions of CE in assessments, which should lead to inclusive, sustainable decision-making.

AB - Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential method to evaluate materials' environmental impact. However, using LCA for assessing other dimensions of circular economy (CE), such as the technical, social, system, and functional dimensions, is fraught with several challenges. In this study, the LCA system boundary was extended to cradle-to-cradle and combined with the predictive building systemic circularity indicator to determine the environmental, technical, functional, and system dimensions of different case scenarios of the product system of a modular steel slab of a residential building in China. It was identified that the base scenario of the case slab could lead to about 50.4% of the mass of the slab being recyclable at EoL. In comparison, 0%, 70.8%, and 38.8% of the mass of the slab being recyclable were recorded for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The environmental impact of the scenarios showed that the base scenario would induce 38.64 kg CO2/m2 in global warming potential, while 68.2, 28.2, and 44.95 kg CO2/m2 were noted for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The simple additive weighting method was used to select the optimal scenario for the product system of the case slab. Adopting the optimal scenario for the case slab should lead to positive impacts and high recoverability at EoL. Implementing this iterative integrative method for assessing product systems enables considering the environmental, technical, systems, and functional dimensions of CE in assessments, which should lead to inclusive, sustainable decision-making.

KW - Circular economy

KW - Construction industry

KW - Cradle-to-Cradle

KW - Life cycle assessment

KW - Modular building

KW - Steel slab

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M1 - 110411

ER -

Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab

Abstract

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