User

Hi Stefano,

Thanks for your question. The relevant PlasticsEurope report is either mentioned in the documentation or in the corresponding version 2 report. You can access the version 2 reports in ecoQuery (ecoinvent online). For EPS, the ecoinvent dataset ‘polystyrene production, expandable, RER’ is based on the 2005 Eco-Profile from Boustead (you can still find the paper e.g. here). The published GWP is this report is 3.3 kg CO2 eq, whereas the ecoinvent GWP in the cut-off system model is within few percent. Small deviations as these can be explained with the different background data and – if applicable – different allocation strategies.

I would like to remind you not to publish scores in the forum, since these scores are only visible for users with a license. If you need to mention scores to clarify your question, please send us an email to support@ecoinvent.org.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear user,

This depends on the application ammonium hydroxide is used for in your study. For example as part of a cleaning agent, I would propose cleaning consumables, without water, in 13.6% solution state. If this is not the application you are working with, I would advise you to model ammonium hydroxide yourself by mixing water and ammonia. In this way, you can as well model the desired concentration.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Nirav,

Thanks for your questions. To get an overview about the datasets present in the database, you can have a look at the Activity overview for ecoinvent 3.7.1, Undefined for the undefined version (before linking), which provides a list of all datasets present in the current version of the database. You can filter by processes (“activity name”) or products (“product name”), ISIC and CPC classification, geographies and more. In the tab “Intermediate exchanges” you can also filter for CAS number and synonyms.

Please keep in mind that ecoinvent is a background database and as such mainly contains more generic datasets. From a quick search, I saw that ecoinvent just contains sodium phosphate from the substances on your list. However, for datasets which do not exist in the database, ecoinvent provides a good background for creating specific datasets on your own.

Additionally, please make sure you are using the appropriate system model for your study. You can read more about our system models here.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards, Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Elisa,

We are working on resolving this issue, but I cannot guarantee that it will be resolved already in the next release. But keep in mind, that you can change e.g. market compositions as well yourself to reflect the composition you think is accurate.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Elisa,

This issue will be resolved in the release of ecoinvent version 3.8, which will be released roughly in the fall of this year. It is not possible for us to make changes in version 3.7, the correction will be done in version 3.8. In the meantime, you can as well change this activity link to ‘fatty alcohol production, petrochemical, GLO’ for your research if you are using a software tool.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Tim,

I agree that this would make more sense. We are working on continuously improving the database and this change will be published in ecoinvent version 3.8 this fall. For now, we can just recommend users to consult the general and technology comment fields of the datasets to pick the most relevant technology for their study.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question. I agree that these are the same substances, but if you check the technology comments the two datasets represent different production pathways. The dataset ‘phosphoryl chloride production’ represents the production from phosphorus trichloride and the process ‘phosphorus oxychloride production’ represents production from phosphorus pentachloride. The product in ‘phosphorus oxychloride production’ has a production volume of 0, which means it is not commonly used.

I therefore advise you to use ‘phosphoryl chloride production’, since this is as well the pathways predominantly used in industry.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question. I agree, those are the same substances, but if you check the technology comments the two datasets represent different production pathways. The dataset ‘tetrafluoroethane production’ describes the production by hydrofluorination of trichloroethylene and the dataset ‘refrigerant R134a production’ a production mix, whereas 50% is produced by hydrofluorination of trichloroethylene and 50% by hydrofluorination of tetrachloroethylene.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Cristobal,

Thanks for your question. I agree with you, the emissions seem to be problematic. We will spend more time looking into this and introduce a correction if necessary in the next release later this year.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Thierry,

Thanks for your question. If you are looking for direct CO2 emissions, you can find those in the UPR of the datasets under exchanges, emissions to air. This is not valid for LCIs, those show cumulated emissions. If you are interested in LCIA scores, like the IPCC global warming potential, those are accessible with an ecoinvent license, you can find more information here.

I would as well recommend you this webinar, which introduces the information available on the ecoinvent website and gives you a tour of ecoQuery.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Elisa,

Yes, the dataset will be updated in the next release later this year.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Elisa,

The next release will be roughly in fall this year.

It is a matter of discussion which dataset will be removed from the database, since the PlasticsEurope LCI is based on older data. But in any way, the share of acetone from cumene will be 83%.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Elisa,

Thanks for your question. There indeed appears to be a wrong activity link, for the European production ‘ethoxylated alcohol (AE3) production, petrochemical, RER’, the activity link is set to refer to ‘fatty alcohol production, petrochemical, RER’, which would be the correct one. This will be corrected in the next release.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question. The datasets you mentioned are services and so they only include the energy inputs required for processing, plus an input of steel to represent the losses occurring during manufacturing, it does not include the material being rolled or drawn. You can find this information in the ‘Included Activities End’ field in ecoQuery (ecoinvent online).

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Ciara,

Thanks for your question. The consequential model uses different basic assumptions to assess the consequences of a change in an existing system. It can be used for perspective studies and prediction of future changes. You can read more about those assumptions and find an explanatory video here. One of these assumptions is, that by products of undefined unit processes are moved to the input side with a negative sign, this models a reduction in the demand from the market. This is the reason why nitrogen fertiliser has a negative sign in the dataset you mentioned. Please make sure, this is the right system model for your work.

With the launch of ecoinvent 3.7.1, the fertiliser modelling was re-evaluated, you can find a more detailed description in the report of changes.

And I would like to remind you that we ask our users to not publish LCIA scores in the forum, since those are only accessible for users with a license.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Dear user,

Thank you for your question. The difference in the total amount is only due to the displayed decimals. Using the total is accurate enough for life cycle studies, but of course it is not wrong to calculate the total yourself.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Max,Thanks for your question. Currently there are no recovered organic chemicals in ecoinvent.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Christina,

Thank you for your question. The dataset ‘magnesium hydroxide production’ was set up by ecoinvent within the frame of the PEF project and was not included in the ecoinvent database. Nevertheless, you can access the data of the ecoinvent node, you have to register for free (login button on the bottom left corner), then look for the dataset and choose ‘view entire dataset’.

Please see here the conditions to use the ecoinvent EF data https://www.ecoinvent.org/about/projects/pef-chemicals/pef-chemicals.html

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association

Hi Brandon,

The approach set for version 3 was documented in our Data Quality Guidelines for ecoinvent 3, page 60.

Please refer to this thread for clarification: https://www.ecoinvent.org/support/ecoinvent-forum/topic.html?&tid=61 .

Mind that you might find some chemicals with a grade indicated, those might have a lower purity (e.g. solar salts, https://www.ecoinvent.org/files/change_report_v3_6_20190912.pdf), this is always documented in the meta information.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Elisa,

Thanks for your question. I agree with you, the datasets ‘acetone production, liquid’, ‘phenol production’ and ‘phenol production, from cumene’, where acetone is either the reference product or a by-product, are all representing the cumene process. The dataset ‘phenol production’ is still from version 2 and will be removed with the next update. The dataset ‘acetone production, liquid’ is an LCI from plastics Europe, so you cannot see the inputs or the phenol by-product. If you don’t need this information, I would advise you to work with this dataset. In the market dataset (read more about market datasets here), the shares are 17% from isopropanol and 83% from the cumene process, which are the shares published in literature. A little remaining amount (less than one percent) is as well produced in the dataset ‘oxidation of butane’.

I hope this answers your question,

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi Adrien

Thank you for your question. I agree, that acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-copolymer is the closest proxy in our database. The ecoinvent database is a background database, so the aim is to provide average data for relevant combinations of product, technologies and geographies. From the GaBi dataset and general information on the production process of SEBS, I noticed that all raw materials are present in ecoinvent. So if you have a solid knowledge of how the product is being produced and the energy required, I am almost certain that you will be able to build it using our database.

There are currently no plans to add SEBS to the database.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Stefan,

Thank you for your question. To get more information on elementary exchanges, you can have a look at the exchange properties. By logging in to ecoQuery (https://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html, creation of a free guest account is mandatory), you can look for the process where you encountered those exchanges and navigate to the ‘Exchange Properties’ section. Ecoinvent offers two properties considering mass, dry and wet mass (definitions in the glossary, https://www.ecoinvent.org/support/glossary/glossary-detail.html?&l=d).

For the exchanges you asked for, the masses are (equals one cubic meter):

Dry mass [kg]

Wet mass [kg]

Gas, natural, in ground

0.8

0.8

Wood, unspecified, standing

550

632.5

Gas, mine, off-gass, process, coal mining

0.8

0.8

Wood, hard, standing

650

747.5

Wood, soft, standing

461.4

784.3

I hope this answers your question. Feel free to contact me if you have more questions, otherwise I wish you a nice festive season and a Happy New Year.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Natasha,

Thank you for your question. You are looking at a market activity. A market dataset collects all activities with the same reference product in a certain geographical region. Furthermore, it includes average transports of that product within the geography, as well as inputs of the product itself to cover losses in trade and transport. In other words, they are consumption mixes of a certain product in a certain geographical region. Have a look at this FAQ as well.

To find a dataset, which burns natural gas, have a look at our activity overview. You can filter by processes (“activity name”) or products (“product name”), ISIC and CPC classification, geographies and more. In the tab “Intermediate exchanges” you can also filter for CAS number and synonyms.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear User,

To get an overview about the datasets present in the database, please have a look at the activity overview https://www.ecoinvent.org/files/activity_overview_3.7_undefined_public.xlsx which provides a list of all datasets present in the current version of the database. You can filter by processes (“activity name”) or products (“product name”), ISIC and CPC classification, geographies and more. In the tab “Intermediate exchanges” you can also filter for CAS number and synonyms. Please keep in mind that ecoinvent is a background database and as such mainly contains more generic datasets. However, if you need datasets which do not exist in the database, ecoinvent also provides a good background for creating specific datasets on your own.

I hope this answers your question. If you have more questions, we kindly ask you to open a new thread for your question with a corresponding title, so other users can see it if they have the same question.

Kind regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear User,

Thank you for your question. Indeed, the dataset seems problematic - at least from a quick assessment we performed. We will proceed in a more detail review of it and design a correction. This might take up to 4-8 weeks. Feel free to contact me directly at dellenbach@ecoinvent.org, so I can follow up with you directly as soon as the case is evaluated.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Breve,

Until this day, SimaPro did not publish a version where ecoinvent 3.7 is integrated. Please get in touch with SimaPro to get more information about a release date.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Breve,

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is possible to install ecoinvent in SimaPro 8.0.5. If you have any difficulties installing it, we kindly ask you to contact SimaPro for support.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Lisa

Thank you for your question. The dataset "waste reinforced concrete {CH} - treatment of, sorting plant" is a treatment activity, where we include the intermediate and elementary exchanges of the activity. The average transport in a geography (as well as the losses during transport and trade) are then included in the market activity, in your case "market for waste reinforced concrete {CH} - treatment of, sorting plant". A market activity is an activity that does not transform or treat inputs, but represents activities between the producers and the consumers of the reference product.

You can have a look at this FAQ as well.

If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear user,

Thank you for your question. The market datasets include average transports of a product from a producer to a consumer within a certain geography. Transport distances refer to the wet mass of the reference product and are given as metric ton*km.  

If you would like to read more about the specifications of a market dataset, have a look at this -> FAQ.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear Elisa

Thank you for your question. As mentioned in the dataset ''toluene diisocyanate production {RoW}'', there is more information about the process in the final report of ecoinvent 2.0, Volume 11 (plastics). You can access the report by signing in to ecoinvent version 1+2. You can find a system characterization on page 119 where the dinitrotoluene intermediate is included.

Let us know if you have further questions.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent Association