Ciencias Exactas y Ciencias de la Salud

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Integrating life cycle assessment and material flow analysis for the environmental sustainability assessment of wind power: a case study for Mexico
(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2023-06-08) Otero Herrera, Luis Alberto; Santoyo Castelazo, Edgar; puemcuervo, emipsanchez; Rivera Gomez Franco, Wilfrido; School of Engineering and Sciences; Campus Monterrey; Probst, Oliver
Wind energy is one of the key technologies to address global climate targets. However, its End-of-Life (EoL) represents a challenge due to the material management, mainly the concrete of the foundation and composites of the blades. Mexico is one of the countries with the highest wind power installed capacity in the Americas, with 7.445 MW in 2022. With the first wind farm installed in 2007 for commercial production, it is expected to reach its EoL from 2027, followed by other wind farms over the next 20 years. Thereby, the aim of this work was to report circularity opportunities by comparing four EoL scenarios by conducting an environmental sustainability analysis of the wind energy sector in Mexico, through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) methodologies. The methodology consisted of developing (i) a Mexican wind technology characterization, (ii) a literature review concerning LCA applied to wind energy, (iii) a technology-based analysis by an LCA and MFA in a cradle-to-grave approach applied to a wind farm as a case study, and (iv) a nationwide analysis by an MFA to inquire the national availability of materials after the EoL of the currently installed wind turbines. The results of the circular EoL modeling in the technologybased analysis revealed that the most challenging scenario in this study (S4) presented a reduction of approximately 30% in the environmental impact in most of the impact categories assessed compared to the linear scenario (S2). This reduction was presented mainly regarding mineral resources use (~70%) and human toxicity (~75%). In addition, the production stage was the main contributor in most of the impact categories assessed accounting for around 90%. Moreover, 2032, 2035, 2039, and 2041 were identified as the peak years in the availability of material from wind turbine waste, representing the most challenging years for material management. In 2039, the material availability will be the highest set between 645,760 to 1,018,206 tons, shared between Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon states Finally, this work concluded with the identification of the benefits of EoL circular modeling in the wind technology life cycle and the opportunities for developing a more sustainable wind turbine waste management in Mexico.
Life Cycle Assessment of beverage packaging systems: a case study for Mexico
(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2021-12-02) Luna-Garcini, Héctor; Santoyo Castelazo, Edgar; puelquio/tolmquevedo; Moina Gutiérrez, Arturo; García Kerdan, Iván; Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias; Campus Ciudad de México
As companies from the manufacturing sector define their sustainability strategy to meet global, national and internal goals, the need for reliable scientific data related to their environmental footprint, which supports decision making, has become more critical in the last years. The Mexican beverage industry has a significant weight in the national economy. By 2019 this industry was responsible for 1.9% of national GDP and was a source of employment for more than 1.5 million people. Although most of the largest companies track their environmental footprint and publish them in sustainability reports, there is no data related to far-reaching sustainability assessment such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This work presents the implementation of an environmental LCA for four different packaging systems used by Mexican beverage companies (Non-returnable PET, refillable PET, refillable glass bottles and aluminium cans). This study includes a comprehensive literature review to know the tendencies, novelties and main results obtained with the execution of LCA for beverage packaging systems. The literature review allowed the identification of similar studies to this work which made it possible to compare and validate the results obtained. The LCA study considered the raw materials extraction, packaging manufacture, finished product manufacture, distribution, retail, washing and end-of-life stages. The goals of this LCA were: i) to determine and compare the environmental impacts generated by four beverage packaging systems offered in Mexico from a cradle-to-grave scope and ii) to identify the Hot Spots of each packaging system. Data inventory was built by using the ECOINVENT database, peer-reviewed publications and public data from industry. This study executed CML, AWARE and Cumulative Energy Demand impact assessments. The results of the study revealed that the NRPET bottle has the best environmental performance since it has a GWP of 174.45 kg CO2eq while RGB has the worst performance with 1152.95 kg CO2eq when considering a single life cycle. On the contrary, if evaluating multiple cycles, the REFPET system performed better since the average GWP per cycle is 50.26 45 kg CO2eq if the packaging last at least 15 cycles. Moreover, the packaging manufacture stage is the most significant contributor for GWP and WF. The results intend: i) to provide scientific-based data for the beverage industry stakeholders, ii) to make possible a better understanding of their environmental footprint and iii) to lead decision-making based on Life Cycle Thinking. Finally, recommendations were set to enable beverage companies to reinforce or adapt their sustainability policy in other for them to achieve a sustainable supply chain.

Ciencias Exactas y Ciencias de la Salud

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