Error in the ecoinvent_371 dataset DE „treatment of municipal solid waste, incineration"?

Question

I have edited my previous question:

Hello,

I suspect there is an error in the dataset „treatment of municipal solid waste, incineration | electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | Cutoff, U – DE“:

Starting from the „ecoinvent_371_cutoff_unit_20210104“ Unit-Dataset:

“market for electricity, medium voltage | electricity, medium voltage | Cutoff, U – DE”

there is a link back to the Dataset:

“electricity, from municipal waste incineration to generic market for electricity, medium voltage | electricity, medium voltage | Cutoff, U – DE”

with the 1:1 link back to

“market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | Cutoff, U – DE”

with the 1:1 link back to

“treatment of municipal solid waste, incineration | electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | Cutoff, U – DE”

However, this dataset then contains no inputs and cannot be analyzed in openLCA 1.10.3.

Consequently, due to the 1:1 backlinking, in ecoinvent_371_cutoff_lci_20210104 the 3 Dataset then contains also no inputs and cannot be analyzed in openLCA 1.10.3.

“electricity, from municipal waste incineration to generic market for electricity, medium voltage | electricity, medium voltage | Cutoff, U – DE”

 “market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | Cutoff, U – DE”

 “treatment of municipal solid waste, incineration | electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only | Cutoff, U – DE”

ecoQuery: in the lci and lcia view of the listed datasets there are also no inputs, outputs or indicator values. Therefore, I suspect there is an error in the original ecoinvent database. However, it seems that this only affects the cut-off system model. Results are available for the APOS and consequential system models.

However, for the data set "electricity, from municipal waste incineration to generic market for electricity, medium voltage, CH" for Switzerland, data are available in the cut-off system model. Then they should also be available in the data set for Germany (DE). So it is more a question to ecoinvent than to the openLCA community.

Would you agree or am I overlooking something?
 

Many thanks and best regards

Answer 1

Hi Julian,

thank you for your post, the "electricity for reuse in municipal waste incinernation only" processes are somewhat funny, indeed; for cut-off, they are however plain dummy processes, without any other inputs or outputs apart from the electricity, also in ecoquery, e.g., treatment of municipal solid waste, incineration, electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, AT:

It has no inputs in ecoquery. This is the same process as in openLCA. Maybe I misunderstood your question?

Best wishes,

Andreas

Comments

I have created a new answer because pictures cannot be inserted in commens.

Answer 2

Hi Andreas,

with unit processes, dummy processes make sense, they transfer 1kWh from one data set to another (this is what I mean in my question with "with the 1:1 link back to......").

But in the end, the 1:1 linked back processes have to get a valid input so that lci and lcia results are generated.

In the lci datasets for AT or DE, the electricity from waste incineration has no ecological impact because the backlinking of the unit datasets comes to nothing. (see first data set chain in the question).

market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, DE:

With the CH datasets it is different. With the dataset (market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, CH) lci and lcia results are generated.

market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, CH:

I suspect that there is an error in ecoinvent since a separate data set for waste incineration was set up for Germany and the CH data set is no longer linked.

Answer 3

and one more thing:

it was noticed during the analysis with ecoinvent_371_cutoff_unit_20210104 in openLCA 1.10.3. Here, no ecological impacts from waste incineration occur for the electricity customer in the low-voltage grid in Germany (DE). Previously, the CH dataset was linked in the German electricity datasets for waste incineration and it worked.

market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, DE:

A contribution is available for the CH data set.

market for electricity, for reuse in municipal waste incineration only, CH:

Comments

so, evidently the Swiss process is different in ecoinvent from the German process, and I see that for Switzerland, the "for use in municipal incineration only" electricity is also used in other waste treatment processes, e.g. in wastewater treatment. This creates a supply chain and thus impacts. It is somewhat inconsistent, I agree.