Continent-specific Intake Fractions and Characterization Factors for Toxic Emissions: Does it make a Difference?

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Margni, Manuele Jolliet, Olivier
Copyright Year	2006
Abstract	Abstract-DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.012 Goal and Scope This paper aims to develop continental characterization factors for the human toxicity impacts of emissions released to air in different continents and to analyze under which conditions this spatial distinction makes a significant difference compared to generic characterization factors. Methods The IMPACT 2002 multimedia and multipathways model has been parameterized to define 6 continental box-models, each of them nested in a world box in order to capture impacts of emissions leaving the initial continent. Applying the model to a test set of 31 heterogeneous chemicals emitted to air, intake fractions and human toxicity characterization factors were calculated for each continent and compared. Results and Discussion For a given chemical, characterization factors can vary of typically a factor 5 to 10 between continents (max 102), mainly as a function of population density for inhalation and as a function of the total agriculture production per km2 for ingestion. This is significant but still limited compared to the variation between substances, of 106 in intake fraction and of 1012 in cumulative risks. Conclusion The variation amplitude is limited for persistent chemicals and decreases with the fraction of the chemical advected out of the continent. Moreover, the ranking between continents remains almost the same for all chemicals. Therefore generic characterization factor for air emissions calculated at continental level, such as the one proposed by the common life cycle assessment method, are in most cases suitable for comparative purposes in any other continent. However, continent specific characterization factors are required if one is interested in evaluating absolute values or in comparing impact between scenarios with emissions in very different continents. For this purpose, a simplified but accurate correlation is determined to extrapolate continent specific intake fractions and characterization factors of a wide range of substances for Oceania, Africa, South America, North America and Asia, starting from the results of Europe as a base continent. -Recommandation and Perspectives. Further research should focus on linking the different continental boxes to obtain a global spatial model including major climatic phenomenon such as the air transport by jet stream. The level of spatial resolution, however, has to be carefully selected to capture significant differences, but at the same time to avoid unnecessarily requirement efforts for data gathering and calculation capabilities.
Starting Page	55
Ending Page	63
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1065/lca2006.04.012
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://users.ugent.be/~jdewulf/Rodrigo%20Alvarenga/Rochat%20et%20al%202006.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.012
Volume Number	11
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article