Integrated Life-Cycle and Risk Assessment for Industrial Processes and Products

Life-cycle assessment is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service during its life cycle, and risk assessment is a tool to evaluate potential hazards to human health and the environment introduced by pollutant emissions.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for, among other objectives, responsible consumption and production by decoupling environmental resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth and human well-being. Life-cycle assessment and risk assessment are both analytical system approaches that allow scientists and other decision makers to address these issues and objectives according to the current understanding of environmental mechanisms.

This book is the first attempt to illustrate the existing interfaces between life-cycle assessment and risk assessment and to indicate options for further integration of both tools.

The second edition:

1. Focuses on sustainability
2. Considers new developments in life-cycle assessment and environmental risk assessment over the last ten years at the international level
3. Introduces broader concepts and discussions on integrative versus the complementary use of life-cycle and risk assessments
4. Extends the scope of integrated life-cycle and risk assessments to critical raw materials
5. Includes more case studies and discusses engineered nanomaterials

Featuring contributions from leading experts, Integrated Life-Cycle and Risk Assessment for Industrial Processes and Products is a great reference for graduate students and professionals in environmental management and intends to catalyze communication between life-cycle assessment and risk assessment experts and scientists in academia, industry, and governmental agencies. The practical format of the book—illustrated with flowcharts, examples, exercises, and concrete applications—makes it a useful manual for analyzing situations and making decisions.