Worldwide, an increasing number of new buildings have photovoltaics (PV) integrated in the building envelope. In Switzerland, the use of coloured PV façades has become popular due to improved visual ...acceptance. At the same time, life cycle assessment of buildings becomes increasingly important. While a life cycle inventory for conventional glass-film PV laminates is available, this is not the case for glass-glass laminates, and in particular, coloured front glasses. Only conventional glass-film PV laminates are considered in databases, some of which are partly outdated. Our paper addresses this disparity, by presenting life cycle inventory data gathered from industries producing coloured front glass by digital ceramic printing and manufacturing glass-glass PV laminates. In addition, we applied this data to a hypothetical façade made of multi-coloured glass-glass laminates and its electricity generation in terms of Swiss eco-points, global warming potential, and cumulative energy demand as impact indicators. The results of the latter show that the effect of the digital ceramic printing is negligible (increase of 0.1%), but the additional glass (4% increase) and reduction of electricity yield (20%) are significant in eco-points. The energy pay-back time for a multi-coloured PV façade is 8.1 years, which decreases by 35% to 5.3 years when replacing the glass rain cladding in an existing façade, leaving 25 years for surplus electricity generation.
•Realistic Life Cycle Assessment of organic tandem solar module (OPV) was modelled.•A reduction of inorganics still reduces the environmental impact significantly.•CO2 footprint of power from organic ...solar plants in Spain would be below 10g/kWh.•Eco-efficiency of OPVs is under certain light conditions superior to benchmarks.•Environmental impact strongly reduced due to low inorganic substances use.
Organic photovoltaic technology has reached a sufficient maturity to enable commercially viable products for integration into buildings with power conversion efficiencies up to about 5%, for example, using a roll-to-roll (R2R) processing of single bulk heterojunction devices technology. This paper reports on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-efficiency analysis of prospective tandem organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules which have been manufactured to the most part in pilot environments. To realistically model the LCA and eco-efficiency a power conversion efficiency of both 10% and a more modest 8% were used with lifespan scenarios of 15 and 20years. The tandem OPV modules modelled in this study have: a cell stack consisting of new advanced materials such as nano-sized zinc oxide, nano-sized silver, and semiconductor polymers; a light management structure; and new flexible PET based encapsulation with organic and inorganic barriers. This tandem technology was modelled assuming an industrialized production based on real and estimated resource consumption and pollution data from an existing roll-to-roll pilot OPV plant and from material suppliers together with projected costs. Established multi-silicon (multi-Si) and cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics were taken to benchmark the environmental impacts in production and the expected levelized costs of electricity. The results of the modelling show that the production of 1m2 tandem OPV module represents only approximately 3–10% of the impacts of 1 m2 of the benchmark multi-Si or CdTe modules when the global warming potential (GWP), cumulative energy demand (CED), eco-toxicity, and metal depletion environmental impacts are considered. The results also show the energy payback time of a tandem OPV at facade is only 18–55% of that of the benchmarks, and the GWP is just 12–60% of that of the benchmarks. An eco-efficiency comparison indicates that, for applications where photovoltaic modules cannot be optimally oriented towards the sun, a flexible tandem OPV might be a superior alternative to multi-Si and CdTe modules.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Scandium (Sc), declared a critical raw material in the European Union (EU), could face further supply issues as the EU depends almost entirely on imports from China, Russia, and Ukraine. In this ...study, a tandem nanofiltration-solvent extraction procedure for Sc recovery from titania (TiO2) acid waste was piloted and then augmented by antisolvent crystallization. The new process, comprising advanced filtration (hydroxide precipitation, micro-, ultra-, and nanofiltration), solvent extraction, and antisolvent crystallization, was assessed in relation to material and energy inputs and benchmarked on ScF3 production. From ∼1 m3 of European acid waste containing traces of Sc (81 mg L–1), ∼13 g of Sc (43% yield, nine stages) was recovered as (NH4)3ScF6 with a purity of approximately 95%, demonstrating the technical feasibility of the approach. The production costs per kilogram of ScF3 were lower than reported market prices, which underscores a competitive process at scale. Although a few technical bottlenecks (e.g., S/L separation and electricity consumption) need to be overcome, combining advanced filtration with solvent extraction and antisolvent crystallization promises a future supply of this critical raw material from European secondary sources.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Scandium (Sc), declared a critical raw material in the European Union (EU), could face further supply issues as the EU depends almost entirely on imports from China, Russia, and Ukraine. In this ...study, a tandem nanofiltration-solvent extraction procedure for Sc recovery from titania (TiO
) acid waste was piloted and then augmented by antisolvent crystallization. The new process, comprising advanced filtration (hydroxide precipitation, micro-, ultra-, and nanofiltration), solvent extraction, and antisolvent crystallization, was assessed in relation to material and energy inputs and benchmarked on ScF
production. From ∼1 m
of European acid waste containing traces of Sc (81 mg L
), ∼13 g of Sc (43% yield, nine stages) was recovered as (NH
)
ScF
with a purity of approximately 95%, demonstrating the technical feasibility of the approach. The production costs per kilogram of ScF
were lower than reported market prices, which underscores a competitive process at scale. Although a few technical bottlenecks (e.g., S/L separation and electricity consumption) need to be overcome, combining advanced filtration with solvent extraction and antisolvent crystallization promises a future supply of this critical raw material from European secondary sources.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Scandium (Sc) has various technological applications, but the concentrations of Sc in ores are low. Both, the mining of low concentrated Sc and the production of industrial-grade Sc are a heavy ...burden on the environment. Bauxite residue (BR) from alumina production represents one of the major sources of Sc in Europe (Ochsenkühn-Petropulu et al., 1994). The goal of this study is to assess the environmental impacts from cradle to gate of a novel production route developed in the Scandium Aluminium Europe project (SCALE) to extract Sc at concentrations <100 ppm from BR, to concentrate and upgrade it to pure ScF3 and Sc2O3 and ultimately to refine it to an aluminium scandium master alloy with 2 % Sc mass fraction (AlSc2 %). Results show that the global warming potential (GWP), measured in CO2-eq per kg Sc2O3, generated with the novel route is about half the GWP of the state-of-the-art Sc2O3 production from rare earth tailings when applying equal allocation principles. The initial process step to dissolve BR and extract Sc consumes elevated amounts of acid and energy and is responsible for at least 80 % of the route’s total environmental impact. The amount of the generated filter cake (FC) is equal to the amount of the BR input and is a potential resource for cement clinker production. The ecotoxicological study indicates that both FC and BR are slightly ecotoxic.
•Sc recovered from bauxite residue more environmentally friendly then traditional Sc extraction from rare earth tailings.•No additional risk to the environment by transforming bauxite residue into another waste type.•Novel processes for Sc valorization in bauxte residue developed in the Scandium Aluminium Europe project (SCALE).•Novel process route bypasses existing expensive and, in the case of fluorination with gaseous HF.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Aufgrund der Energieperspektiven 2050 des schweizerischen Bundesamtes für Energie (BFE) wird das zukünftige Potenzial von gebrauchten Lithium‐Ionen‐Batterien aus Elektrofahrzeugen als stationäre ...Stromspeicher in Gebäuden untersucht. In drei Szenarien wird der Umweltnutzen für das Jahr 2035 und 2050 ermittelt. Hierzu wird berechnet, wie viel Kapazität an herkömmlichen Speichern durch eine gewisse Kapazität an wiederverwendbaren gebrauchten Batterien substituiert werden kann. Das Substitutionspotenzial wird mit ausgewählten Wirkindikatoren wie dem Treibhauspotenzial (GWP) und dem kumulierten Energieaufwand (CED) analysiert. Im Jahr 2050 können ca. 760 bis 1170 MWh an herkömmlichen Speichern durch 2nd‐Life‐Speicher substituiert werden. Dabei kann das Treibhauspotenzial pro Jahr um ca. 11.000 bis 16.000 t CO2 Äq gesenkt und der kumulierte Energieaufwand um ca. 207.000 bis 305.000 GJ verringert werden. Die Resultate zeigen, dass der Einsatz von 2nd‐Life‐Batterien in stationären Anwendungen einen signifikanten Beitrag zur Reduktion der Umweltbelastung durch Batterien beitragen kann.
Quantifying environmental benefits of used batteries coming from electric vehicles as stationary energy storage systems. Based on the “Energy Perspectives 2050” scenarios published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), used lithium‐ion batteries coming from electric vehicles (EV) are being researched for their future potential to be implemented as stationary energy storage in buildings for. With the help of three investigation scenarios the environmental benefits for the years 2035 and 2050 are evaluated. Calculations are carried out on how much conventional battery storage capacity may be substituted by a certain amount of reusable 2nd‐Life batteries. The substitution potential is analyzed with selected category indicators such as the global warming potential (GWP) and the cumulative energy demand (CED). It is found that between 760 and 1170 MWh conventional energy storage may be substituted by 2nd‐Life by 2050. Thus, the global warming potential may be reduced by between 11,000 to 16,000 t CO2 eq. per year, and the cumulative energy demand between 207,000 to 305,000 GJ. Results show that utilising 2nd‐Life batteries in stationary systems can contribute significantly to reducing the environmental impact of batteries.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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