Water Presentations

1. www.ncpc.o.za
Name: Prof Harro von Blotnitz
Topic: but are these South Africa Life Cycle Data Sets
Professor von Blottnitz holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering (UCT), a BSc Honours in Operations Research
(UNISA), an MSc in Engineering (UCT) and a Doctorate in Engineering (RWTH Aachen in Germany). He was
promoted to full professor in 2013 and is registered as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council of
South Africa. He has published widely in the fields of Life Cycle Assessment, Renewable Energy (biogas, biodiesel
and bio-ethanol) and Waste Management, thanks to extensive supervision of postgraduate students researching
these topics. Many of his graduates have gone on to practise as knowledge providers in the emerging green
economy
Case Study
Life-cycle Management in
Industry

2. Environmental & Process Systems Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering
But are there South African Life Cycle Data Sets?
SRI LCI project activities in South Africa
Prof. Harro von Blottnitz (Pr.Eng.)
Industrial Energy Efficiency Conference
15 September 2017

3. LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT
Product
stewardship
Own
operation
environmental
management
Green
procurement ++

4. LCM VS. LCA
• Can one manage product life cycles without doing LCAs?
• Sometimes
• Life cycle thinking – mapping cradle-to-grave is qualitative
• Inform by LCA findings from elsewhere?
• With expert local interpretation – doable.
• Might still get it wrong
• LCA – not for everyone:
• Typically an expensive undertaking
• Goal and scope statement will determine whether local data
needed

5. LCA REQUIRES DATA
 To do an LCA requires lots of data
 Foreground data (focal point of system) must be collected
 Background data is best read in from a database
 To do a sound LCA requires regionalised background data
• The problem is illustrated by the following two slides from
ecoinvent, a Swiss company providing an LCA database

6. Trust in Transparency! 9
while LCI data are concentrated
ecoinvent v.2
ecoinvent v.3

7. Trust in Transparency! 10
Slide 10
Challenge of Sustainable Supply Chains
DEMAND
SUPPLY
Growing concerns on sustainability
of globally traded goods
Preference for local products
Limit access to «green» markets
Criticism on misuse of trade policies
Favourable
production
conditions
→ Strong demand for LC-based studies and LCI data

8. SRI PROJECT
• “Sustainable Recycling Industries”
• Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(SECO)
• Comprised of three components
 Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent)
 Capacity Building (Empa)
 Global Roundtable (WRF).

9. SRI PROJECT
• “Sustainable Recycling Industries”
• Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(SECO)
• Comprised of three components
 Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent)
Develop basic life cycle inventory data for industrial, agricultural and
other activities in Latin America, Egypt, India and South Africa.
Expertise building and training events in these countries and the
surrounding regions.
 Capacity Building (Empa)
 Global Roundtable (WRF).

10. SRI COMPONENT A: LIFE CYCLE INVENTORIES
Build LCA/LCI expertise and critical core of LCI data for
newly industrialised countries
• Centre for regional networks
• Involvement of stakeholders
• LCA/LCI expertise
• Data collection
• Jan 2015 – Dec 2017

11. SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE
• Facilitator and coordinator for the SRI-LCI project in South
Africa
• Consult and interact with regional stakeholders
• Organise training workshops and coordinate meetings on LCI
generation
• Organise and coordinate data collection projects and actively
approach potential data providers
• Synchronise with the international LCI/LCA community
 Co-hosted by UCT & NCPC
 Open to collaboration

12. LCI/LCA EXPERTISE (CAPACITY BUILDING)
• Raise awareness about the importance of LC thinking
• Develop local LCA skills
• Develop LCI creation skills
• Create the momentum and expertise for data collection
• Workshops held in Pretoria/JHB and Cape Town in May 2016
 Science-based value-chain insights for sustainability
Audience: Industry representatives and policy makers
 Towards a South African LCA database with ecoinvent
Audience: LCA practitioners and data providers
• 1st LCA Colloquium 7-8 November 2016, Cape Town
• 2nd LCA Colloquium 31-32 October 2017, Johannesburg

13. DATA SETS BEING CONSTRUCTED
• Call for tenders: Life cycle inventory data collection, LCI
dataset creation and submission to ecoinvent.
• Tenders awarded that involve ZA partner(s):
 Coal mine operations, electricity generation using coal and solar
technologies, and electricity market: TGH and PSI
 Cement and Concrete: UJ
 Agriculture and animal husbandry (maize, pome & citrus fruit,
animal feed, beef): UCT, Blue North, TGH, ZHAW
 Metals (gold, PGM, HMS, Fe-Cr): UCT, Wits

14. SO, WILL LCA (AND LCM) BECOME EASIER,
IN MZANSI ?
• Some key background data for doing LCA in SA context will
be available in a widely-used database, ecoinvent.
• Full LCA will remain a costly exercise
• But if done, for strategic insights & value, more reliable
• Some guidance should emerge for LC managers
 Follow-up training & capacity-building events in March 2018

15. THANK YOU
NCPC-SA: Lee-Hendor Ruiters
UCT: Adjunct A-Prof Pippa Notten, Dr Valentina Russo
SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE TEAM