Session: 03-08 Life Cycle Assessment Basics and Application to Optimize the Environmental Sustainability of Gas Turbines During New Product Development

Paper Number: 106602

106602 - Life Cycle Assessment Basics and Application to Optimize the Environmental Sustainability of Gas Turbines During New Product Development 

AUDIENCE

Engineers concerned with environmental studies, Researchers aiming to address produce sustainability, carbon footprint reduction and energy transition challenges

Engineering students interested in deepening their knowledge in environmental life cycle assessment.

 

TUTORIAL DESCRIPTION

Gas Turbines market, especially for the applications in Oil & Gas and Power Generation, is demanding rising sustainability requirements. Manufacturers are therefore required to implement actions and policies to continue playing a strategic role for the global goals of sustainable development and reduction of global warming. The application of environmental life-cycle assessment from the early stages of product design is becoming a critical driver to develop a competitive product also from an environmental perspective. As a matter of fact, the earlier application of design-for-environment techniques can effectively influence the decisions towards a comprehensive sustainability. The tutorial, starting from an historical background and state of the art description of Life Cycle assessment will then describe, through some use cases, typical application of Life Cycle Assessment to enhance product sustainability.

 

TUTORIAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The tutorial provides basic insight into what is an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), what is the methodology to carry out an LCA and how to communicate the results. It also provides examples and case studies on the application of LCA to the design and use of an industrial gas turbine.

 

CONTENT AND OUTLINE

The tutorial session will provide basic insight on:

- Challenges for gas turbine environmental sustainability;

- What is Life Cycle Assessment;

- LCA methodology with reference to available ISO standards (ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067);

- Goal and scope, functional unit, system boundaries;

- Inventory phase, attributional vs consequential LCA;

- Impact assessment, impact categories, end point vs mid point;

- Interpretation, single score, product category rules;

- applications for the Oil & Gas sector, specifically on Gas Turbines;

- case study on the application of LCA during a new product development at Baker Hughes;

- potentiality to reduce the environmental impact during the design phase;

- conclusions

Presenting Author: Angela Serra Baker Hughes

Presenting Author Biography: Angela is Senior Emissions Technical Advisor appointed Product Sustainability Consulting Engineer of sustainability Office in Baker Hughes. Angela, as a functional subject matter expert, will lead and support cross-product and cross-business growth initiatives, driving profitability and global growth, thanks to her long experience in Sustainability. She introduced environmental life cycle assessment (e-LCA) in Baker Hughes, supporting the development of a tool for quickly evaluate Gas Turbine’s carbon-footprint, the tool was applied for Carbon Footprint Certification of NovaLT12 and NovaLT16. In the journey towards sustainability, Angela is now attending an industrial PHD supported by Baker Hughes with University of Perugia to evaluate social and environmental impact of products through social-LCA methodology. Angela covered different roles from cost out to configuration management to Quality and HSE, showing the ability to address customer issues, with clients like Total, Exxon Mobile, and SNAM.
Angela is Vice Chair of the Coal, Biomass, Hydrogen & Alternative Fuels Committee for ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI), she arranged and participated to several panel sessions and technical tutorials at ASME IGTI from 2018 to 2022 around e-LCA and co-authored 8 scientific papers focused on the sustainability of innovative technologies for gas turbines.
EDUCATION
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy – M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering – 1996

Authors:

Angela Serra Baker Hughes
Pietro Bartocci Instituto de Carboquimica
Francesco Fantozzi Università Degli Studi di Perugia