Carbon footprint modeling of methylated melamine resin

Podnebne spremembe in globalno segrevanje sodita med glavne probleme na svetu, zato države in podjetja stremijo k temu, da bi preprečila ali vsaj zmanjšala vzroke teh pojavov. Eden izmed načinov za dosego tega cilja je zmanjšanje emisij toplogrednih plinov v industriji, zato smo v diplomskem delu v sodelovanju s podjetjem Melamin iz Kočevja razvili model za ocenjevanje ogljičnega odtisa za produkt metilirano melaminsko smolo heksametoksimetilol melamin. Za osnovo smo uporabili metodologijo ISCC+ in v izračun vključili emisije toplogrednih plinov, ki nastajajo pri transportu kemikalij in proizvodnji produkta in ne za celotni življenjski cikel izdelka. Za to metodologijo smo se odločili zaradi pobude podjetja Melamin. Za transport smo ugotovili, da je iz vidika ogljičnega odtisa najbolj ugodno, da se na kopnem kemikalije prevažajo z železniškim transportom namesto s cestnim in preko morij z ladijskim prevozom namesto letalskim. Pri proizvodnji produkta smo ugotovili, da je za zmanjšanje ogljičnega odtisa potrebno kemikalije, pridobljene iz fosilnih virov, zamenjati s kemikalijami, pridobljenimi iz bioosnovanih virov. Primerjali smo metanol na osnovi fosilnih virov z biometanolom iz podjetij BioMCN in Sodra. Količina nastalih emisij v proizvodnji z uporabo metanola na osnovi fosilnih virov je bila 3,88 tCO2eq/tprod. Če smo uporabili biometanol iz podjetja BioMCN, se je ogljični odtis zmanjša na 3,40 tCO2eq/tprod, medtem ko so z biometanolom podjetja Sodra bile emisije še nižje in sicer 3,05 tCO2eq/tprod. Pomembno je tudi, da se vsaj del porabljene elektrike proizvaja iz nefosilnih virov, kot je denimo lesna biomasa, saj se s tem zelo zmanjša ogljični odtis. Podjetje pridobiva 25 % električne energije iz lesne biomase in s tem zmanjša ogljični odtis zaradi porabe elektrike za 22,14 % v primerjavi s celotnim odjemom iz omrežja.Climate change and global warming are two of the most important issues facing the world. Therefore, countries and companies are trying to prevent or at least reduce the negative consequences of these phenomena. One way is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industry. Therefore, in this thesis, in cooperation with the company Melamin from Kočevje, we have developed a model for estimating the carbon footprint for the product methylated melamine resin hexamethoxymethylol melamine. We used the ISCC+ method as a basis and included emissions from the transport of chemicals and product manufacturing in the calculation and not for the entire lifecycle of the product. We decided on this methodology due to the initiative of the company Melamin. As far as transport is concerned, we have established that, in terms of the carbon footprint, it is most advantageous for chemicals to be transported overland by rail rather than by road, and over the sea by ship rather than by plane. In the production of the product, it was found that in order to reduce the carbon footprint, it is necessary to replace chemicals obtained from fossil sources with chemicals derived from bio-based sources. We compared methanol based on fossil sources with biomethanol from two companies, BioMCN and Sodra. The amount of emissions generated by the use of methanol based on fossil sources is 3,88 tCO2eq/tprod. Using biomethanol from BioMCN, the carbon footprint would be reduced to 3,4 tCO2eq/tprod , and using biomethanol from Sodra, the carbon footprint would be even lower at 3,05 tCO2eq/tprod. It is also important that at least some of the electricity consumed is generated from non-fossil sources such as wood biomass, as this significantly reduces the carbon footprint. The company obtains 25 % of its electricity from wood biomass, reducing the carbon footprint from electricity consumption by 22,14 % compared to purchasing all energy from the grid