Integrating environmental assessment of emerging materials into the material selection process

Abstract

Existing material selection methodologies do not account for effects that scaling has on the resulting environmental consequences. The impact of producing an emerging material using a lab-scale process is likely to differ significantly from the impact of mass-producing the same material at industrial scale. We propose a methodology, based on the established Ashby material selection process, that combines material selection with environmental impact assessment and takes into account the effects of scaling up material production processes for emerging materials. The approach adds additional steps for data collection, life cycle assessment and scaling to the pre-existing steps in Ashby’s methodology. It allows for the assessment of multiple environmental impact categories as well as a transparent way of handling underlying data uncertainty and variability. We review existing approaches of environmental material selection methodologies, derive requirements for a novel approach, present our concept methodology and demonstrate it using a case study example. Further refinement of the concept should primarily address the life cycle assessment and scaling steps.