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Vol. 5 No. 1 (2025)
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Open AccessArticles
Article ID: 2798
Gate to gate life cycle assessment of plywood manufacturing in Indiaby V. Prakash, S. K. Nath, D. Sujatha, D. N. Uday, B. S. Mamatha, M. C. Kiran, Narasimhamurthy
Ecomaterials, Vol.5, No.1, 2025;
A gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted for 1 cubic meter (m3) of finished plywood with density 600 kg/m3 for four different plywood manufacturing facilities based on their location, production capacity and the variety of products manufactured. Primary data on inputs (raw materials, energy consumption, etc.) and the outputs (plywood and the byproducts) were collected through questionnaires by interacting with staff working in different sections of the production plants. Primary data collected were used to simulate the plywood manufacturing process in GaBi (software for LCA) and secondary data was sourced from the GaBi professional database 2011 to ascertain its environmental impacts in terms of material use and emissions. Primary energy demand, greenhouse gases (GHG) and other organic and inorganic emissions have been determined for various processes involved in plywood production. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions broken down by individual processes as biogenic and fossil emissions and also (CO2) sequestered during each process by the way of output product have also been carefully assessed. Major electrical energy consumption is found to be in veneer peeling, veneer drying, and hot pressing of plywood, whereas veneer drying is found to be thermal energy intensive, which gives impetus to develop energy-efficient veneer dryers with automation. Material recovery varies from factory to factory for various reasons, such as the quality of the logs, the skills of the laborers/machine operators, etc. The highest material recovery of all the factories considered in this study is found to be 63%, which is a clear indication of ample scope for improvements. Variation in the electrical and thermal energy was observed for different production facilities, mainly due to the production practices and extent of mechanization involved. It is inferred from the study that compared to other materials, viz., steel, aluminum, etc., plywood stores a net amount of carbon than emitted during its manufacture, which is mainly attributed to wood, a biogenic material that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and is the major raw material for plywood manufacturing, and hence plywood can be regarded as a green building material.
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