Risk management of chemicals and contaminated land – from planning to verification - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 280

5.4 Application of LCA for contaminated land management
Contaminated land management aims to reduce local environmental risk but it has
indirect environmental impacts by using energy, materials, transport processes and
by producing waste. The life cycle approach supports decision makers in comparing
different technology alternatives in the planning phase considering both direct and
indirect impacts. LCA permits one to describe and optimize environmental perfor-
mance of each potential technology with such a systematic approach. Depending on
data availability, LCA can be a screening study based on estimations and simulation
models, or a detailed assessment of remediation processes in progress.
LCA practitioners face specific methodological challenges when soil remediation
is under study: how to define a functional unit that quantifies the performance of the
analyzed technology (based on the amount of treated soil or on the target level of
contamination after treatment); how to consider the significant differences concerning
time demand of different technologies; where to define the boundaries of the life cycle
system; how to consider the local impacts of soil contaminants (Lemming et al., 2010).
An example is described by Cadotte et al. (2007) about the comparison of four
remediation scenarios to reduce diesel contamination of a reference amount of soil
to a well-defined target concentration. System boundaries included production and
transport of materials and equipment for land preparation, energy production for
remediation processes, demolition and transport technologies. For this specific case,
LCA identified the following scenario as the most preferable from a life cycle per-
spective: bioslurping for light non-aqueous phase liquid removal, bioventing for soil
treatment and biosparging for groundwater treatment. The authors highlighted that
this scenario is not the fastest remediation option available, so it is recommended only
if time demand is not a critical issue.
5.5 Integration of LCA and ERA
ERA and LCA are both applied for chemicals but their approach and outcomes are
different. ERA focuses on the emission of a chemical during its production, use and
waste treatment while LCA deals with resource demand and with all globally relevant
emissions of the entire life cycle of chemicals. ERA is used to understand risks for
human and ecotoxicity considering specific local or regional conditions (e.g., popula-
tion density) while LCA also quantifies other potential global/regional impacts (e.g.,
global warming, eutrophication, acidification) without the application of local assess-
ment models. When doing a RA, a specific use scenario of the chemical has to be
selected; LCA starts with the definition of a functional unit.
If both ERA and LCA are applied for a certain chemical, it is possible that com-
pletely different conclusions are achieved. The focus of ERA to local risk and the more
holistic approach of LCA generally catalyze different decision-making processes.
A collaboration field between ERA and LCA communities is about the application
of ERA data and models in human and ecological impact assessment of LCA. Different
impact assessment methods are available (also in applied LCA software solutions) that
are usually based on the extrapolation of laboratory measurements. Harmonization
and selection of best available methods are in progress to achieve an international
consensus.