TY - JOUR

T1 - Recycling process development with integrated life cycle assessment

T2 - a case study on oxygen transport membrane material

AU - Johanning, Melanie

AU - Widenmeyer, Marc

AU - Escobar Cano, Giamper

AU - Zeller, Vanessa

AU - Klemenz, Sebastian

AU - Chen, Guoxing

AU - Feldhoff, Armin

AU - Weidenkaff, Anke

N1 - Funding Information: This research was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the project NexPlas—project number 03SF0618B and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—project number 435833397. We acknowledge the assistance of Kerstin Lakus-Wollny in the conduction of SEM and EDXS. We also thank Claudia Fasel for the conduction of combined thermal analysis measurements. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

PY - 2023/5/23

Y1 - 2023/5/23

N2 - The transformation towards a circular economy based on sustainable technologies requires future-oriented materials development, which considers materials recycling with a minimum environmental impact (EI). This demands a holistic approach towards materials design, including a combined assessment of functional and environmental performance. Scientific methods for environmental assessment, e.g., life cycle assessment (LCA), are well established but rarely integrated into the chemical process development at early stages. Consequently, sustainability claims often lack scientific verification. Here, we test the approach of integrating a screening LCA into the development of a chemical (recycling) process. As a relevant use case, we selected the recently developed oxygen transport membrane (OTM) material (La0.9Ca0.1)2Ni0.75Cu0.25O4±δ (LCNC). An initial LCA identified the consumption of primary metal nitrates as a major contributor to the EI of the primary synthesis. To address this issue, a Pechini-based chemical recycling process for LCNC was developed, which involves microwave-heated dissolution and subsequent re-gelation. Experimental results demonstrate the synthesis of recycled LCNC powder with primary-like properties, similar reaction behaviour, and >96% yield. Based on the LCA results, the EI of recycling is reduced by up to 76% compared to the primary synthesis in 12 of 14 impact categories. Measures for the simultaneous improvement of the process functionality and environmental performance were identified. The approach of integrating LCA in chemical process development is discussed critically based on the given use case. The results strongly encourage the integration of LCA as a standard method into the future development of sustainable chemical processes.

AB - The transformation towards a circular economy based on sustainable technologies requires future-oriented materials development, which considers materials recycling with a minimum environmental impact (EI). This demands a holistic approach towards materials design, including a combined assessment of functional and environmental performance. Scientific methods for environmental assessment, e.g., life cycle assessment (LCA), are well established but rarely integrated into the chemical process development at early stages. Consequently, sustainability claims often lack scientific verification. Here, we test the approach of integrating a screening LCA into the development of a chemical (recycling) process. As a relevant use case, we selected the recently developed oxygen transport membrane (OTM) material (La0.9Ca0.1)2Ni0.75Cu0.25O4±δ (LCNC). An initial LCA identified the consumption of primary metal nitrates as a major contributor to the EI of the primary synthesis. To address this issue, a Pechini-based chemical recycling process for LCNC was developed, which involves microwave-heated dissolution and subsequent re-gelation. Experimental results demonstrate the synthesis of recycled LCNC powder with primary-like properties, similar reaction behaviour, and >96% yield. Based on the LCA results, the EI of recycling is reduced by up to 76% compared to the primary synthesis in 12 of 14 impact categories. Measures for the simultaneous improvement of the process functionality and environmental performance were identified. The approach of integrating LCA in chemical process development is discussed critically based on the given use case. The results strongly encourage the integration of LCA as a standard method into the future development of sustainable chemical processes.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164370223&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1039/d3gc00391d

DO - 10.1039/d3gc00391d

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85164370223

VL - 25

SP - 4735

EP - 4749

JO - Green chemistry

JF - Green chemistry

SN - 1463-9262

IS - 12

ER -