Nowadays environmental impact assessment of a new product is necessary to meet raising sustainability requirements also in the Oil & Gas market, especially for industrial gas turbines. From the conceptual phase to the engineering, designers work is supported by a wide range of tools aimed to define and evaluate typical parameters such as performance, life and costs. However, considering environmental impact aspects from the early stages of products development may not be easy if the involved engineers are not provided by a specific Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) knowledge.

Scope of this paper is to introduce and explain the development of an environmental LCA tool that allows easy and fast eco-design evaluations during all engineering steps, even if the user is not an expert on LCA.

Preliminary analysis of processes involved in gas turbine production and use phase is performed to calculate the related environmental impacts referred to their specific functional unit. Embedding these outcomes in the tool, the user can retrieve them while mapping engine components. Combining qualitative and quantitative information such as material, manufacturing processes, mass, etc. with the impact of unit processes, the tool provides environmental assessments.  

A case study of two different turbine component design solutions is evaluated in terms of carbon footprint.


Defining Key Environmental Performance Factors (KEPF) for Gas Turbines Eco-Design and Production Through Life Cycle Assessment

Division / Sponsor:
International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2020/volume/84058

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