Grantee Research Project Results
2015 Progress Report: NCCLC: Network for Rapid Assessment of Chemical Life Cycle Impact
EPA Grant Number: R835579Title: NCCLC: Network for Rapid Assessment of Chemical Life Cycle Impact
Investigators: Suh, Sangwon , Keller, Arturo A. , Doherty, Michael , Doherty, Michael , Seshadri, Ram , Scott, Susannah
Current Investigators: Suh, Sangwon , Keller, Arturo A. , Scott, Susannah , Seshadri, Ram , Doherty, Michael
Institution: University of California - Santa Barbara
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: December 1, 2013 through November 30, 2017 (Extended to November 30, 2019)
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 3, 2014 through December 2,2015
Project Amount: $4,887,644
RFA: EPA/NSF Networks for Characterizing Chemical Life Cycle (NCCLCs) (2013) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Chemical Safety for Sustainability
Objective:
The Network for Rapid Assessment of Chemical Life Cycle Impact, which is internally referred to as the Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC), is aiming at developing a framework to enable early assessment of the life cycle impacts of novel chemicals and materials. The framework can also be used to fill in data gaps in the prediction of life cycle impacts for existing chemicals with large data gaps.
Progress Summary:
To date, we have: (1) developed a Predictive Life Cycle Impact Assessment Module to estimate the impact of chemicals across cumulative energy demand, aquatic eco-toxicity, eco-indicator, ozone layer depletion, acidification and water demand; (2) created a framework that connects chemical functional uses and product applications together to generate realistic estimates of releases; (3) developed two fate and transport models to predict the dynamic long-term fate of organic chemicals and nanomaterials in the natural environment; (4) developed a framework that accommodates in a consistent way the different sources of uncertainty and allows a coherent uncertainty and sensitivity characterization across other modules in CLiCC; and (5) completed case studies for Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Ecolab, incorporating Predictive Life Cycle Impact Assessment, Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Toxicity, Fate & Transport, and Exposure Assessment as integral components of the CLiCC tool.
The accomplishments so far have connected the individual modules in the first year of this project and established a working prototype of the final tool we are developing. We are now able to complete full life cycle assessments on chemicals and products without detailed inputs from potential users. This is demonstrated in the case studies we have performed over this reporting period. This marks an important step towards building the user-friendly tool that can offer easy to understand information and data on the environmental impacts of existing and emerging chemicals for decision-makers and researchers alike.
Future Activities:
Life cycle inventory data are the cornerstone of any life cycle assessment, but this information is often not available for novel chemicals. Thus, we are developing a Chemical Process Design Module to provide detailed life cycle inventory data to overcome this challenge.
To better estimate the chemical release information during use phase, we will finalize our release factor database for each function-application combination. We will also gather the latest release models or conduct our own models on release factors to improve the precision on release estimates for certain products.
For the fate and transport of chemicals in the environment, we plan to explore additional methods for modeling fate of mixtures, polymers, and inorganic chemicals. Additional environmental scenarios, including a global scenario, are under development to expand the geographic coverage of our tool.
The uncertainty and sensitivity characterization will be integrated and automated with all other modules of the CLiCC. The method will be further tested in future case studies. A pedigree approach is also being developed to accommodate for data without quantitative uncertainty information.
The third case study with Sherwin-Williams to analyze the chemicals in one of their paint products is underway. We will also continue to identify additional opportunities with industry partners for future case studies. These case studies provide us with the opportunity to improve the CLiCC tool by practicing it in real-life situations as well as better understand the needs of our users.
Journal Articles on this Report : 6 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 34 publications | 24 publications in selected types | All 24 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Bergesen JD, Suh S. A framework for technological learning in the supply chain: a case study on CdTe photovoltaics. Applied Energy 2016;169:721-728. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Garner KL, Suh S, Lenihan HS, Keller AA. Species sensitivity distributions for engineered nanomaterials. Environmental Science & Technology 2015;49(9):5753-5759. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Garner KL, Suh S, Keller AA. Assessing the risk of engineered nanomaterials in the environment: development and application of the nanoFate model. Environmental Science & Technology 2017;51(10):5541-5551. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Ghadbeigi L, Harada JK, Lettiere BR, Sparks TD. Performance and resource considerations of Li-ion battery electrode materials. Energy & Environmental Science 2015;8(6):1640-1650. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Katelhon A, Bardow A, Suh S. Stochastic technology choice model for Consequential Life Cycle Assessment. Environmental Science & Technology 2016;50(23):12575-12583. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Suh S, Qin Y. Pre-calculated LCIs with uncertainties revisited. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2017;22(5):827-831. |
R835579 (2015) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Risk assessment, ecological effects, human health, bioavailability, carcinogen, toxics, scaling, green chemistry, life-cycle analysis, alternatives, sustainable development, clean technologies, environmentally conscious manufacturing, public policy, decision making, environmental chemistry, modelingRelevant Websites:
The Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
- Final Report
- 2018 Progress Report
- 2017 Progress Report
- 2016 Progress Report
- 2014 Progress Report
- Original Abstract
24 journal articles for this project