Integrated early-stage environmental and economic assessment of emerging technologies and its applicability to the case of plasma gasification. (1st January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sauve, Giovanna; Esguerra, John Laurence; Laner, David; Johansson, Joakim; Svensson, Niclas; Van Passel, Steven; Van Acker, Karel
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 382(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Subjects: Ex-ante assessment -- Integrated assessment -- Global sensitivity analysis -- Life cycle assessment -- Life cycle costing -- Plasma gasification; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134684
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: Economic and environmental impact assessments are increasingly being adopted in the design and implementation of emerging systems. However, their emerging nature leads to several assessment challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the validity and usefulness of results in understanding their potential performance and supporting their development. There is the need to (i) account for spatial and temporal variability to allow a broader perspective at an early stage of development; (ii) handle uncertainties to systematically identify the critical factors and their interrelations that drive the results; (iii) integrate environmental and economic results to support sound decision-making based on two sustainability aspects. To address these assessment challenges, this study presents an alternative approach with the following corresponding features: (i) multiple scenario development to conduct an exploratory assessment of the systems under varying conditions and settings, (ii) global sensitivity analysis to identify the main critical factors and their interrelations, and (iii) trade-off and eco-efficiency analysis to integrate the economic and environmental results. The integrated approach is applied to a case study on plasma gasification for solid waste management. The results of the study highlight how the approach allows the identification of the dynamic relations between project settings and surrounding conditions. For example, the choice of gasifying agent largely depends on the background energy system, which dictates the impacts of the process energy requirement and the savings from the substituted energy of the syngas output. Based on these findings, the usefulness and validity of the proposed integrated approach are discussed in terms of how the key assessment challenges are addressed and how it can provide guidance for the development of emerging systems. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: An integrated ex-ante environmental and economic assessment framework is defined. The exploratory approach allows addressing uncertainties in the ex-ante assessment. Global sensitivity analysis allows the fine-grained analysis of the system. A case study on plasma gasification is conducted. The framework supports the sustainable development of emerging technologies.