LCA results - Process Contributions (Absolute)

[rmaheen]

Hi, guys. I am using Activity Browser for my master's thesis and tried to do a basic model of the gas atomisation process for aluminum powder production, taking values from this paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-023-00365-4

The GA process is estimated to use up to 11.5 kWh/kg (42 MJ/kg) for aluminum powder production, equating to ~5 kg of CO2/kg of aluminum produced

I am trying to reproduce the 5kg CO2/kg value.

For my model, I input the Technosphere flows for aluminium powder (product) as in the attached image, along with some other assumptions for water for cooling and N2 venting:

When I do the calculation step in the standard LCA, and view absolute values in process contribution, the results are close to 30 kg CO2 eq. And I see electricity high voltage (KR) and aluminium primary liquid (CN), whereas for my activities I chose electricity medium voltage (GLO), and aluminium primary ingot (GLO) as the technosphere inputs.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm not sure how to interpret or troubleshoot this. Any tips on how to effectively model this would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

[marc-vdm]

Hi, thanks for asking! It seems what you're looking for is not process contributions, but rather product contributions. You could check out the Sankey tab. I also notice you're on an older version of Activity Browser, in newer versions we also have First-Tier contributions, which show the impact of products. Perhaps check out our wiki on the differences between the different approaches to contribution analysis.

Hope that helps!

[rmaheen]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review my query! I will update to the newer version. Also, I will check out the wiki in detail - skimmed through it and it is quite insightful!

Is it okay if I ask follow-up questions on this thread after updating my software?

Best regards

[marc-vdm]

You're always free to ask more, that's what the discussions are for!
However, if it's a follow-up on this, here would be good, if it's a new topic, it's probably better to start a new thread, that way the information remains somewhat organized for others to find it as well :)

[rmaheen]

Understood!
I just updated to the newer version, and the FT contributions were exactly what I wanted to see. Thank you so much again!!