LCA Case Studies

Abstract

Request for single articles

129 KB  Full paper 103 downloads since February 2002

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2001.12.072 --- Linoleum is a floor covering consisting mainly of linseed
oil, other vegetable oils, wood flour and limestone on a
carrier of jute. Forbo-Krommenie B.V. commissioned the Centre
of Environmental Science (CML) to carry out an Environmental
Life Cycle Assessment for linoleum floors. The goal of
this study was to assess the environmental performance of linoleum
floors, indicating possible options for improvement, and
assessing the sensitivity of the results to methodological choices.
The functional unit was defined as: 2000 m2 linoleum produced
in 1998, used in an office or public building over a period of 20
years. The method followed in this study is based on a nearly
final draft version of the LCA guide published by CML in corporation
with many others, which is an update of the guide on
LCA of 1992.
From the contribution analysis, the main contributing processes
became clear. In addition, the sensitivity analysis by scenarios
showed that the type of maintenance during use and the pigments
used can have a large influence on the results. Major data
gaps of the study were capital goods and unknown chemicals.
Sensitivity analysis also showed that these gaps can lead to an
underestimation. Based on this study, some options to improve
the environmental performance of linoleum were formulated
and advice for further LCA studies on linoleum was given.