Can I view carbon content (biogenic/fossil) in ecoinvent 3.9.1 inside openLCA?

Question

Hello,
I am working with ecoinvent 3.9.1 (imported via the .zolca package) in openLCA, and I need to access the carbon content information—for example:

• biogenic carbon content

• fossil carbon content

• total carbon content

• water content, density, or other exchange properties

However, I cannot find these properties in the exchanges or in any process documentation inside openLCA.

My question:
Does openLCA allow viewing exchange properties (e.g., carbon content) from ecoinvent 3.9.1?
Or are these properties not imported from the EcoSpold2 files into the .zolca version?

If not supported, is there any workaround other than manually checking the EcoSpold2 XML files or using ecoQuery?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hello,

In the newest ecoinvent 3.12 version we have included the ecoinvent properties like carbon content, water content etc. into the flow description field. You can also look up the properties in ecoQuery if you want to.

One point to mention is that it does not make sense to attach the properties to exchanges, since ecoinvent only provides them per flow. It means, that all exchanges that use this flow will have the same property, e.g. electricity costs the same in China and in Europe.

Nevertheless, it can be sometimes useful for modeling and allocation to have these values if no other/better values exist. But care should be taken in using them and they should be checked for plausibility and if the property fits to the specific exchange. As mentioned before, they can be always looked up in ecoQuery, or since version 3.12, can be looked up in the flow description field.

Best wishes,

Conrad