Problem importing ILCD format databases into openLCA 2.0.2

Question

I’d like to use some third party databases alongside Ecoinvent to do some calculations, since they offer some datasets not included in ecoinvent. However i’m having trouble calculating results with LCIA methods other than the method(s) already included in the third party databases. In some categories of the LCIA methods other than the included method(s), mostly energy, resource or water consumption, the calculated results are 0 or negative which doesn’t seem to be right.

I was told that this is mostlikely an issue with flow mapping, which can be done manually or with a mapping file and that it would become more comfortable with the release of openLCA 2.0, because it would include some mapping files. Now i was revisiting this problem with openLCA 2.0 and the issues with calculating results with LCIA methods other than the included method(s) still remain.

While importing i selected the ILCD file of the database and the corresponding flow mapping file „ILCD_Import.csv“. But i’m getting a large number of errors and when I click on details, I see that a lot of them are invalid references. Am i doing something wrong with the import or is manual mapping still required after that?

One database in question is the PlasticsEurope Public LCI Database. In another post in ask.openlca i read that „this is a known issue, these files have been created with GaBi and GaBi seems to exclude common flows etc. that are already known in GaBi, which means these files do not work in other tools“. So this is a lost cause then right?

Another database i tried was a ILCD database related to PEF and had the same calculation problems after importing with the flow mapping file.

I also tried the PEF database downloaded from the Nexus. I assumed it might work out of the box since it is a zolca file, but it only works with the included LCIA Method. Is there a way to map the database to make it work with other LCIA methods or is it only intended to be used with the included EF method?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi, I edited your post to remove the formatting issues - openLCA is quite good in converting LCA data but it remains a technical task, and there are many data out even from assumed credible sources that are incorrectly formatted or formatted following one commercial tool fitting to only this tool where the data provider is unaware of since it was done by a specific consultant.

We will be relasing EF in a version adapted and suited for openLCA, and will also talk to some of the other data providers to try to improve the situation. Mapping: It requires some finetuning until you catch all important flows typically, the files provided now in our reference data are meant as a starting point. Maybe so far for now..

Best wishes,

Andreas

Comments

Thank you for the answer!
That's great news that you're working on a adapted version of EF for openLCA.
Is there any more information on manual mapping? I found the general openLCA mapping instructions "Flow Mapping in openLCA" document but i'm struggeling to apply this to my case. Is there any additional tutorial maybe with a test DB to try out flow mapping in a controlled environment where i know what the outcome should look like?

Thanks