Product Life Cycle Assessment

This report discusses the concept of Product Life Cycle Assessment (PLCA) and its importance in evaluating the sustainability of a product. It explores the process of PLCA and provides a baseline study of a current model of a washing machine. The report also presents various ideas for new environmentally friendly washing machines, such as recycling water from previous rinse and using rainwater. The aim of the PLCA is to enhance the physical efficiency of the washing machine and reduce its carbon footprint.

Running head: PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
Product Life Cycle Assessment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
1 Methodology...................................................................................................................4
1.1 Streamlined Product Life Cycle Assessment..............................................................5
2. Baseline Study........................................................................................................................8
2.1 Scope and System Boundary............................................................................................9
2.2 Raw materials, Manufacturing and End of Life...............................................................9
2.2.0 Extraction of raw materials.......................................................................................9
2.2.1 Manufacturing.........................................................................................................10
2.3 Use Phase.......................................................................................................................11
2.3.1 Using Detergent......................................................................................................12
2.4 End of Life.....................................................................................................................13
3. Ideas for New Product..........................................................................................................14
3.1 Recycling water from previous rinse.............................................................................14
3.2 Using rainwater..........................................................................................................14
3.3 RFID technology........................................................................................................14
3.4 NFC (Near Field Communication).............................................................................15
3.5 AC Power Metering...................................................................................................15
3.6 pay per wash...............................................................................................................15
3.7 Refurbishment............................................................................................................15
3.8 Direct Drive................................................................................................................15
3.9 Eco bubble..................................................................................................................15

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3.10 Using ‘Swirl’ concept washing machine that uses manual rotation........................16
3.11: Using water from clothes washing cycle to flush the toilet....................................16
4 Service...................................................................................................................................16
5. Comparing the baseline with the new product or service....................................................16
6. Sustainability issues.............................................................................................................17
7. Feasibility of implementation and potential barriers...........................................................17
Conclusion................................................................................................................................17
References:...............................................................................................................................18

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Introduction:
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a tool that can be used to assess the sustainability of a
product. However the tool can be expensive to use, consumes a lot of time and its
applications are limited to a small range of products (Kyriaki et al. 2018). These
shortcomings can be avoided by the implementation of Streamlined Life Cycle Analysis
(SLCA) method. This strategy is not only faster and cheaper but also allows 80% of the
challenges organizations face, thereby providing greater efficiency (Friesenhan et al. 2017;
Calvo-Serrano and Guillén-Gosálbez 2018).
The report aims to study the range of washing machines currently in the market and
select a machine that is environmentally friendly and perform SLCA evaluation on the
product in order to create a baseline data. Using this design, proposal for a new product
would also be made, comparing them to current models.
Aim of Product Life Cycle Analysis
The chief aim of the product life cycle analysis is to enhance the physical efficiency
of the washing Machine by 30 percent. Another major objective of the product life cycle
includes diminishing the energy leakage by one sixth of the current energy leakage. The third
objective of the product life cycle analysis is to drop the carbon footprint by 15 parcent of the
current footprint.When it comes to scope of the PLCA, the manufacturer possess the scope to
use the recycable products as raw materials. Alon with this, in order enhance the pphysical
eficiency of the products alternativee fuel resource needs to be used.

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Figure 1: Flow of the life-cycle stages, energy, materials, and effluents for washing machine.
Source: Calvo-Serrano and Guillén-Gosálbez 2018
The diagrams (2a and 2b) below shows the life cycle of a typical washing machine

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Figure 2a Washing machine Life Cycle (overview). Source: Calvo-Serrano and Guillén-
Gosálbez 2018
Figure 2b. Washing machine Life Cycle (detailed). Source:Friesenhan et al. 2017
1 Methodology

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The study will aim explore the following factors:
1. The environmental impacts of the machine throughout its life cycle
2. Optimal lifespan of the machine
3. Feasibility to recycle or reuse the machine over purchasing a new machine
In order to understand the first point, calculation of the environmental impacts is done
using a current model of a 5kg washing machine available off the shelf (Napper and
Thompson 2016). In order to address the second point, a current model of a washing machine
is used to determine its life span using the figures of consumption of resources by the
machine (Ikhlayel 2017). For the third point, figures about the consumption of resources by
the machine is analyzed and compared with the costs and environmental impacts of the
production and purchase of the machine (Napper and Thompson 2016). A Streamlined Life
Cycle Assessment (SLCA) would be carried out to address these concerns.
1.1 Streamlined Product Life Cycle Assessment
A complete LCA tool can be useful only when there is no constraints on time, availability
of data and expenses for the evaluation (Duan et al. 2017). The figure below shows the LCA
continuum:
Figure 3 Continuum of LCA. Source: Duan et al. 2017

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The screening of the product can be done using an inviolate list that can be used to
identify the limitations of the product design and therefore streamline the product
(Dickerson2017).
In this report Cumulative Energy Demand would be used as the indicator for LCA to
assess a washing machine (Frischknecht et al. 2015). The selection of CED for the LCA
assessment was made based on the following grounds:
 CED is the most frequently used LCA indicator for products that are electronic or
electrical
 CED helps to assess both indirect and direct use of energy through the life cycle of the
product
 Less information and data is required by CED for inventory analysisthan other types
of LCA indicators.
(Liu et al. 2018)
Figure 4: CED graph. Source: Liu et al. 2018
The vertical line at the beginning of the graph implies the consumption of energy
during the production stage, next phase of the graph implies the use stage of the product and
the last stage of the graph represents the life span of the machine (Liu et al. 2018).
 CED can be designed by gathering the values for each of these stages and plotting
them on a graph. The values can be collected through the following strategies:

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 Clearly defining a complete bill of materials
 The Energy Costs for the production process is calculated using Cost of energy for
common materials as shown in the tables below:
Figure 5: Cost of energy for Printed Circuit Boards. Source:Foelster et al. 2016
Figure 6: Cost of energy for common materials. Source: Foelster et al. 2016
2. Baseline Study

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For the purpose of this study Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) will be prepared for
a current model of a washing machine using the tables shown above to create a graph.
2.1 Scope and System Boundary
A functional unit can be used to define a product system. For this case, one unit of a
regular household washing machine is taken as a functional unit (Mitchell and Clark 2019).
These products are usually marketed with an expected lifespan of 10 years (Albertí et al.
2019).
Figure 7: Washing machine- System boundaries. Source: (Albertí et al. 2019)
2.2 Raw materials, Manufacturing and End of Life
2.2.0 Extraction of raw materials
Even though the washing machines have a high rate of being recycled, the extraction
of steel from the old machines is still very limited. The process of mining for minerals
significantly impacts the environment due to pollution of land and produces a huge quantity
of waste (Yonezawa et al. 2018). Manufacturing plastic also liberates several toxic chemicals
and pollutants that cannot be easily degraded in nature (Tanaka and Tsuchida 2018). These
two raw materials (steel and plastic) constitute the bulk of the machine and thus have the

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most significant environmental impacts due to the process of extracting minerals and raw
materials to manufacture metal and plastic parts for the machine (Yonezawa et al. 2018).
2.2.1 Manufacturing
In order to analyze the use of energy for the production of the washing machine, a bill
of materials is used. The bill of materials (BOM) is shown in the figure below:
Figure 8 Bill of materials.

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From the figure above, it can be clearly understood that most of the raw materials
required to manufacture one unit of a washing machine are metal parts, most of which can be
recycled or reused. An overall consumption of 996 Mega Joules of energy can be calculated
based on the values on the table above. After including the energy costs of manufacturing
these parts, the overall energy cost comes to 1008 mega Joules or 280 Kilo Watt Hour.
2.3 Use Phase
This stage of the washing machine consumes the maximum amount of energy. This is
primarily influenced by the frequency at which the machine is operated and the detergents
used for washing purposes (Tanaka and Tsuchida 2018). The impacts of the use phase are
mainly caused by the following factors:
 Use of water (92% impact on life cycle)
 Use of energy (60% impact in life cycle)
 Global warming (73% impact on life cycle)
 Depletion of fossil fuels (62% impact on life cycle)
(Engle et al. 2018)
The rinsing cycle uses 25 liters of water resulting in an overall requirement of 35
liters of water. For average houses that uses 200 washes every year, almost 7000 liters of
water is used. The annual use of electricity is approximately 3055 kilo watt hours or 11000
mega joules. In an average lifespan of 10 years, almost 2000 washes can be made, using
about 70,000 liters of water and 80000 mega joules or 2222 kilowatt hour of electricity.
Fossil fuels are also needed for the operations of the machine that causes emission of 80kg of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide every year per machine (dos Santos et al 2018).

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2.3.1 Using Detergent
An exact analysis of the lifecycle inventory for the chemicals used for washing is
difficult because to lack of detailed information about the different ingredients used for
manufacturing detergents (Landeck et al. 2018)
Figure 9: Impact of detergentduring the use phase of the machine. Source: Landeck et al.
2018
Figure 10 Impacts of over use of detergents. Source: Osadebe et al. 2018
From the table above it can be understood that by even using 1% more of detergent
for washing can have a significant impact due to the manufacture of the chemicals. This
impact can be mitigated by a careful use of detergents, following the recommended amounts.

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Figure 11 CED Washing Machine. Source Osadebe et al. 2018
2.4 End of Life
According to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) about
85% of the white goods present in washing machines can be recycled and the rest 15% can
enter the landfills. About 1.75 kilowatt hour of electricity is consumed to operate shredders
for recycling process (Johnson et al. 2018).
Figure 12 Recycled materials for washing machine. Johnson et al. 2018
From the table it is evident that only the metal components of the machine is
recyclable and the same amount of metal that is used for the manufacture of the machine can
be extracted back at its end of life stage. This suggests a closed loop in the utilization of
metal for manufacturing the machine which makes it a reasonable standard in context of LCA
of the machine.
3. Ideas for New Product
Here new design ideas have been outlined briefly that can be used for the washing
machine in order to optimize the usage of electricity and resources. These ideas include:
3.1 Recycling water from previous rinse
This strategy can help to minimize the usage of water by reusing the water from
previous wash cycle to rinse the clothes again.

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3.2 Using rainwater
Washing machines can also be operated using water from rainwater harvesting, which
can reduce the usage of running water as well as minimize the environmental impacts of
using freshwater resources.
3.3 RFID technology
This technology can be fitted inside the textiles that can allow the machines to detect
the type of fabric, required amount of detergent and washing conditions for the fabric,
according to which the machine can set its washing parameters for best and optimized result.
3.4 NFC (Near Field Communication)
This can allow technicians to remotely access the washing machine interface through
mobile devices and perform firmware updates, system diagnostics, performance optimization,
settings change and also contact the manufacturers.
3.5 AC Power Metering
The power meters can provide information to the users about the usage ofelectricity
by the machine and help them to optimize the usage based on their needs and consumption of
electricity.
3.6 pay per wash
This system can allow the users to track the energy used and the number of washes
done on the machine and calculate the average cost per wash. This can help the users to use
the machine more sensibly to minimize the costs of washing clothes.
3.7 Refurbishment
Refurbished machines can be sold at lower costs compared to new ones and therefore
help to minimize the costs of manufacturing new unit.

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3.8 Direct Drive
This technology requires comparatively lesser consumption of electricity and water
and also reduces manufacturing expenses compared to top traditional design by removing
belts and pulleys that needs additional energy to operate.
3.9 Using ‘Swirl’ concept washing machine that uses manual rotation
This technology uses manual rotation for the cleaning process instead of using
electricity to rotate the drums. This completely avoids the use of electricity and therefore
greatly minimizes the operation costs of the machine.
3.10: Using water from clothes washing cycle to flush the toilet
Water used for washing the clothes can also be reused for toilet flushes therefore
conserving the water use and therefore minimizing the environmental impacts.
(Wang 2018; Stamminger et al. 2018)
4 Service
For washing machines, an important service that is needed is the setup of a product
service system (PSS) that can help manufacturers to increase returns form the product
through better control over the life cycle of the product. Washing machines at the end of life
stage are recycled, however only 10% of them are refurbished. Increasing refurbishment of
the products would allow reuse of the parts and reduce product cost by up to 60% (Karlsson
et al. 2018; Sateesh et al. 2017).
5. Comparing the baseline with the new product or service
 Compared to the baseline product, the new product would have the following options
that can improve and optimize use of energy or reduce the impact of its operations on
the environment. These features include:

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 Using direct drive
 Drainage of water from washing machine to toilet
 Adding a manual rotation option
The table below shows the CED comparison between the new design and the baseline design:
Figure comparing the CED of the baseline vs. new design. Source self-work
6. Sustainability issues
It can be expected the new design would have better sustainability in terms of its
energy usage and impact on the environment, as seen from the table above (Gupta et al.
2016). Also, considering the usage of energy in the use phase is another significant
sustainability issue as the electricity can often be generated from unsustainable sources such
as fossil fuels (dos Santos et al. 2018).
7. Feasibility of implementation and potential barriers
The design costs of the new product can be considered feasible, with the necessary
addition of the components costing less than 200 pounds. The top of the shelf model, with all
the features can go up to 500 pounds. Increasing the refurbishment of machines can further
reduce the cost of each unit.
Conclusion
The base design had a larger impact on the environment compared to the new design.
The maximum impact on environment due to the operation of the machine was caused by its
use of water which provides a significant scope for improvement in future design in regards

17PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
to minimizing water use by the machine. It is expected that the new design would not only
consume lesser energy but would last longer, reduce water usage in the household and also
reduce power usage when used manually.

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