Lifecycle materials design tool

Abstract

The proposed work represents a difficult, complimentary approach to the established life-cycle analysis (LCA) methodology. LCA seeks to evaluate the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of an established process or product; it is inherently retrospective in that it uses proscribed methods to evaluate established technologies and industries. However, with the need to re-evaluate and redevelop multiple sectors of the materials/chemical economy due to constraints on resources and concerns on environmental impact, materials scientists and chemists must incorporate these considerations at the beginning of the R&D process, when products and processes are not-established or hypothetical. This leads to a need for a predictive capability to sieve down candidate materials, precursors or processes at key materials choices, especially as the ability to experimentally synthesize and test numerous candidates may be unfeasible, and long term consequences of materials choices may be difficult to assess upfront.