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What is the environmental impact of research? A case study on the Swiss DemoUpCarma project using Life Cycle Assessment
The ‘DemoUpCarma’ project, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using and storing CO2 captured at Swiss emitters. The CO2 is either utilized and stored in concrete in Switzerland or stored in geological reservoirs abroad by carbon capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) value chains. Although 1000 tons of CO2 are stored during the DemoUpCarma project, less than 1000t of CO2 are avoided overall. This is mainly due to the different process steps in the CCTS value chain, resulting in additional greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. The activities associated with the project, such as the provision of monitoring equipment or conducted flights, also result in additional environmental impacts and reduce the avoided greenhouse gas emissions even further.
In this thesis, you will extend the current environmental assessment of the CCTS chains by the impacts associated with the research project itself. For this purpose, you will use the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology.
Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment, LCA, DemoUpCarma, CO2, environmental impact, climate change, carbon footprint, CCS, carbon capture transport and storage,
Switzerland’s long-term climate strategy aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Despite stringent emission reduction measures, there will still be emissions from hard-to-abate sectors (cement, waste, etc.) of roughly 12 Mio. t CO2-eq. in 2050. To enable achieving the net-zero goal, it s mandatory to avoid or compensate for these greenhouse gas emissions by carbon capture and storage (CCS) and net-negative technologies (NETs).
The ‘DemoUpCarma’ project, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using and storing CO2 captured at Swiss emitters. The CO2 is either utilized and stored in concrete in Switzerland or stored in geological reservoirs abroad by carbon capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) value chains. Although 1000 tons of CO2 are stored during the DemoUpCarma project, less than 1000t of CO2 are avoided overall. This is mainly due to the different process steps in the CCTS value chain, resulting in additional greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. The activities associated with the project, such as the provision of monitoring equipment or conducted flights, also result in additional environmental impacts and reduce the avoided greenhouse gas emissions even further.
Switzerland’s long-term climate strategy aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Despite stringent emission reduction measures, there will still be emissions from hard-to-abate sectors (cement, waste, etc.) of roughly 12 Mio. t CO2-eq. in 2050. To enable achieving the net-zero goal, it s mandatory to avoid or compensate for these greenhouse gas emissions by carbon capture and storage (CCS) and net-negative technologies (NETs).
The ‘DemoUpCarma’ project, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using and storing CO2 captured at Swiss emitters. The CO2 is either utilized and stored in concrete in Switzerland or stored in geological reservoirs abroad by carbon capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) value chains. Although 1000 tons of CO2 are stored during the DemoUpCarma project, less than 1000t of CO2 are avoided overall. This is mainly due to the different process steps in the CCTS value chain, resulting in additional greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. The activities associated with the project, such as the provision of monitoring equipment or conducted flights, also result in additional environmental impacts and reduce the avoided greenhouse gas emissions even further.
In this thesis, you will extend the current environmental assessment of the CCTS chains by the impacts associated with the research project itself. For this purpose, you will use the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Depending on the type of student work, these are possible subtasks:
- Identify all processes during the project that have a relevant environmental impact.
- Collect relevant data from project members and perform an LCA on the project. The results will be put in relation to the CO2 stored during the project and to a possible large-scale implementation of CCTS in Switzerland.
- Develop a methodology to evaluate the environmental impact of the (project) staff depending on the assumed income and compare it to the project’s environmental impacts.
- Develop and evaluate means to reduce the environmental impact of research projects in general.
**About you**:
- Student of mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, environmental engineering, or a comparable subject
- Previous knowledge of LCA is beneficial but not necessary
- Independent and goal-oriented working style
- Above-average grades
In this thesis, you will extend the current environmental assessment of the CCTS chains by the impacts associated with the research project itself. For this purpose, you will use the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Depending on the type of student work, these are possible subtasks:
- Identify all processes during the project that have a relevant environmental impact.
- Collect relevant data from project members and perform an LCA on the project. The results will be put in relation to the CO2 stored during the project and to a possible large-scale implementation of CCTS in Switzerland.
- Develop a methodology to evaluate the environmental impact of the (project) staff depending on the assumed income and compare it to the project’s environmental impacts.
- Develop and evaluate means to reduce the environmental impact of research projects in general.
**About you**:
- Student of mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, environmental engineering, or a comparable subject - Previous knowledge of LCA is beneficial but not necessary - Independent and goal-oriented working style - Above-average grades
Feel free to contact Julian Nöhl (jnoehl@ethz.ch) in case of any questions. We look forward to receiving your application with the following documents:
• Transcript of records
• CV
Feel free to contact Julian Nöhl (jnoehl@ethz.ch) in case of any questions. We look forward to receiving your application with the following documents: • Transcript of records • CV