Can I use processes instead of flows as inputs in LCA?

Question

Hello,

I am trying to create an LCA of a cleaning product, and after inserting all the ingredients to produce the product I would like to add transportation.

However, I cannot find a specific transportation flow in the EF database (EF_secondarydata_201908) even though I can see specific types of transportation in the processes, such as lorry transport, EURO 0 - 5 with different weights etc.

Can I use those specific processes instead of flows as "steps" in my LCA? Or how can I turn those transportation processes into flows to use them as inputs in my LCA?

Cheers,

Katerina

Answer 1

No, never, Katerina. In any LCA model, a process has inputs and outputs which are flows, not processes. I am aware that some other LCA software (SimaPro) might confuse users a bit because it shows the products under a headline 'processes', but behind the user interface the logic is the same. The PEF database, as it is released, contains only system processes with very few exceptions, that are meant to be autonomous and fully aggregated and do not need any input product.

A process has a product, always, which can be a waste or product flow. Use this to link to another process.

Hth, Andreas