Why are my LCIA results zero?

Question

I've loaded the dataset (XML format) for C16-18 fatty alcohol from palm oil (No. 13 - Matrix) from the ERASM study (http://www.erasm.org/index.php/erasm-research/manufacturing/raw-material-sourcing/life-cycle-inventories) into OpenLCA with Ecoinvent and am able to calculate LCI results but not LCIA results (even though I have imported all of the methods). The "Administrative Information" tab says "Ecoinvent clients have access to LCI results but not to unit process raw data. Members of the ecoinvent quality network (ecoinvent centre) have access to all information." The dataset was created using Gabi. Does this mean that I cannot calculate aggregated LCIA impact results using OpenLCA with Ecoinvent and would need to use Gabi or access the unit process raw data by becoming a member of the ecoinvent quality network? I also tried importing the dataset in ILCD format into OpenLCA and had the same problem. I am interested in calculating LCIA results for fatty alcohol and building downstream processes with fatty alcohol as the feedstock. Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer 1

I'm assuming that "I have imported all the methods" means you've imported all the LCIA methods from the openLCA nexus? If so, the impact factors in all these methods use openLCA reference flows (e.g., Flows/Elementary flows/Emission to air/unspecified/Carbon dioxide = 1 kg carbon dioxide equivalent). If the flows in your model use a different set of flow names (e.g., Emissions to air/inorganic emissions to air/Carbon dioxide), then the nexus LCIA methods won't work. It's hard to say exactly what is going on here given the mix of ecoinvent/gabi/openlca tools/data.