The design and building of a lifecycle-based process model for simulating environmental performance, product performance and cost in cement manufacturing

State of the art lifecycle inventory (LCI) models are typically used to relate resource use and emissions to manufacturing and use of a certain product. Corresponding software tools are generally specialised to perform normalisation of the flows to the functional unit. In some cases it is, however, desirable to make use of the LCI model for other types of environmental assessments. In this paper, an alternative modelling technique resulting in a more flexible model is investigated. We exemplify the above by designing and building a model of a cement plant. The commissioner’s, in this case Cementa AB’s, requirements on a flexible model that generates information on environmental performance, product performance and the economic cost were seen as important. The work reported here, thus, has two purposes: on the one hand, to explore the possibility of building more flexible LCI models, and on the other hand, to provide the commissioner with a model that fulfils their needs and requirements. Making use of a calculational a-causal and object-oriented modelling approach satisfied the commissioner’s special requirements on flexibility in terms of modularity and the types of calculations it was possible to perform. In addition, this model supports non-linear and dynamic elements for future use. The result is a model that can be used for a number of purposes, such as assessment of cement quality and environmental performance of the process using alternative fuels. It is also shown that by using the above modelling approach, flexibility and modularity can be greatly enhanced.