Life Cycle Management Assessment of Toxicological Risks for Life Cycle Assessment and Eco-efficiency Analysis

As one of the first global chemical companies, BASF has developed a quantitative tool to support strategic and op-erative decisions assessing the sustainability of products and processes. Up to now, more than 100 studies in all areas of production and products have been carried out. The eco-efficiency analysis determines the economical and the eco-logical impact of products/processes from the perspective of the end user and compares different possibilities to satisfy the customer's demands. Ecological data are calculated in accordance to the life cycle assessment (LCA)-rules of ISO 14040 ff as a first step. After that, the results are summarised for five main factors with a special method developed by BASF. Those five fac-tors are considered in determining the environmental im-pact. They are: consumption of raw materials; energy con-sumption; emissions in the air, water and soil (wastes); toxicity potential of substances employed and produced; and the risk potential of misuse. These parameters are weighted and combined to give an impact score. The economic aspects of the alternative products or processes are represented in an overall cost calculation, taking into ac-count the flow of material and energy and including all relevant secondary processes. Factors which increase costs and potentials for cost reduction are easily identified in the process. Using the data on the relative cost and environmental im-pact, an eco-efficiency portfolio is created, which makes it easy to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular product at a particular point. The value of the eco-efficiency tool, apart from its descrip-tion of the current state, lies in the recognition of important factors and in the illustration of 'what if...? ' scenarios. 2 Need for a Toxicity Scoring System The category of 'Human health ' is getting more and mor