Secondary Material Error

Question

we are using Open LCA 2.1 (and Open LCA 2.2) with ecoinvent 3.10, with EN15804 addon.

When calculating the imacts, the secondary materials results always zero, even when we do know that some secondary material is present.

Thus we have also doubts that some other hidden issue is there

Answer 1

Dear Luca,

Maybe you are mixing some databases or methods? The calculation for secondary materials for the background data sets only works inside the EN15804 add-on published in Nexus and only with the impact methods that are inside this database.

In cases where you are adding own foreground processes with secondary materials or in cases where you import other data sets with secondary materials, you need to insert the "Secondary materials (SM)" elementary flow by yourself to these processes with the correct amounts which will act as a "counter" (inventory indicator).

Best,

Conrad

Comments

no... we are using EN15804_A2_2020_3.
so impact method and db are aligned.
also we see the Secondary material impact, but is always zero

---

No, it's not aligned.
EN15804_A2_2020_3 is somewhere in the 3.8 version on Nexus or in an old methods package (the release year is 2020 as the name suggests) and it is not compatible with the newest EN15804 add-ons on Nexus that are published this year or last year for example. As I said, for the EN15804 add-on database from Nexus, you can only use the methods that are inside that database existing.

---

oh.
can you please help me find the right impact method to be used?

---

EN15804+A2 (EF v3.1)?

---

Yes, that is the newest one, which is based on the version 3.1 of the environmental indicators in the EN15804 method from JRC.

There is also version 3.0 inside the database, since this is the one which is currently used the most in EPDs that follow the A2 standard (EN15804+A2). But as far as I know, some EPD operator will make the new version 3.1 mandatory soon. So I guess that new EPDs will usually take this newest version. But which one to take and how to report the version inside the EPD report depends on the programme operators.

---

thanks a lot!

---

probably, i have imported by mistake the old method, while importing the datasets :)

---

how can i delete the wrong impact method? i try but the system is not allowing me to do it (even if is not used anywhere)

---

Usually you just right-click on the method and you can delete it. Afterwards you can delete the impact categories of that method in case they are not used in another method.

---

i know, but it is not giving no errors, but nevertheless is not deleting

---

solved..it was just a problem of refresh.
closing and opening openlca, it then disappeared