Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Cellulosic Fiberboard Production in North America

Abstract

Documenting the environmental performance of building products is becoming widespread because of many green-marketing claims made without scientific merit (i.e., green-washing). Developing environmental product declarations (EPDs) for building products is one way to accomplish this objective for scientific documentation and to counter green-washing. EPDs are based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) data and are similar to nutritional labels for food. To develop a business-to-business (B2B) EPD for uncoated cellulosic fiberboard, gate-to-gate life-cycle inventory (LCI) data must be developed to construct the cradle-to-gate LCA. This study used the internationally recognized LCI method to develop the needed gate-to-gate LCI data. Primary data were collected from seven cellulosic fiberboard plants that represented over 96% of cellulosic fiberboard production in North America. The primary data were then weight-averaged on a per-unit basis of one cubic meter of uncoated cellulosic fiberboard (254 ovendry (OD) kg/m³) to calculate material flows and energy use. Cumulative allocated energy consumption associated with manufacturing 1.0 m³ of uncoated cellulosic fiberboard from 244 OD kg of various feedstocks was found to be 8.63 GJ/m³, with 6% of the primary energy provided by burning wood residues. Emission data produced through modeling the production process found that estimated biomass and fossil carbon dioxide emissions were 43.2 and 298 kg/m³, respectively. Our analysis estimated that 1.0 m³ of uncoated cellulosic fiberboard stores 477 kg CO₂-equivalents, assuming carbon content of wood to be 50%. The amount of carbon stored in cellulosic fiberboard exceeds the total carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing by 30%. Therefore, cellulosic fiberboard’s ability to store carbon when in use as a building product is a positive environmental attribute. From this study, the needed gate-to-gate LCI data can now be incorporated into the cradle-to-gate LCA to develop the B2B EPD.

Citation

Bergman, Richard D. 2014. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Cellulosic Fiberboard Production in North America. In: Proceedings, Society of Wood Science and Technology 57th International Convention. June 23-27, 2014. Zvolen, Slovakia: 2014; pp. 542-550.