Life cycle inventory of stainless steel - A review of challenges, methods and applications

This chapter presents life cycle inventories (LCI) of stainless steel products (cold-rolled coils) with a focus on the challenges associated to the use of this material in the construction domain: roofs, façades, technical equipment, structural components. After an introduction describing recent applications of stainless steel in the construction domain, an overview of the challenges related to the use of this material is presented. In this section, a special attention paid to the Leadership in Environmental and Engineering Design (LEED) developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), that was one of the world’s first green building rating system (1990) and most widely used internationally. The most recognized European environmental assessment methods will also be mentioned. Several grades will then be described with regard to their mechanical (resistance and ductility) and physical properties (solar reflectance, thermal emittance) as well as surface finishes available for the construction domain. Afterwards, three grades in the form of cold-rolled coils (grades 304, 316 and 430) will be compared in terms of life-cycle inventory from cradle to gate including the end-of-life treatment. Indeed, since stainless steel is recycled to more than 90% at the end of its life and recyclable and indefinite number of times, the method that will be taken into account is referred as “allocation for scrap inputs and outputs using the closed material loop recycling methodology”. A short description of the reference method will also be provided. Last, depending on the recycling rate and thus net recycling content, several impacts such as the energy demand and CO2 emissions will be compared. The influence of the end-of-life credit method will be underlined and discussed