Assessing Status of Life Cycle Assessment Studies in Egypt

Main Article Content

Dalia M. M. Yacout*

Abstract

One of the tools used worldwide nowadays for achieving sustainable development is “Life cycle assessment.” This tool is being used to assess and compare environmental impacts of products or services through their entire lifetime. Researchers and environmental experts in both academia and industry are using Life cycle assessment (LCA) as it presents a quantitated and qualitative tool that reflects the environmental impacts. In spite of this, it was noted that limited studies employed this important tool in Egyptian cases. The goal of this review paper was to identify potential usage of LCA in Egypt. This was done by evaluating the conducted studies concerning this area in Egypt and main gaps and challenges were determinined, accordingly. Improvement options and future requirements for using LCA in Egypt would then be recommended.
In order to assess the statues of the LCA studies in Egypt, the published documents by both national and international scholars related to LCA cases conducted in Egypt during the period of 2006 till 2019 were collected and reviewed. It was found that 39 documents were published concerning this area. The published documents covered seven main area of studies namely; building and construction materials, aquaculture farming, energy, industrial manufacturing, transportation, water treatment and waste handling. Top publications were in the building and construction materials field accounting for 44% of the total publications followed by energy, aquaculture farming, waste handling strategies, and industrial manufacturing of textile and packing materials (13%, 13%, 13 and 8% of the total publications, respectively). The main benefits as well as gaps of the conducted studies were discussed for each area. Current concerns, need of future studies as well as related recommendation and suggestions were also presented.

 


Keywords: Life cycle assessment; sustainable development; Egypt

*Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected]

Article Details

Section
Review Ariticle

References

ISO 14040, 2006. Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment-Principles and Frameworks. Geneva : International Organization for Standardizations.

Udo de Haes, H.A., 1993. Applications of life cycle assessment : expectations, drawbacks and perspectives. Journal of Cleaner Production 1(3-4), 131-137.

ISO 14041, 1998. Environmental Management - Life cycle Assessment - Goal and Scope Definition and Inventory Analysis. Geneva : International Organization for Standardizations.

ISO 14042, 2000. Environmental Management - Life cycle Assessment - Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Geneva : International Organization for Standardizations.

ISO 14043, 2000. Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Life cycle Interpretation. Geneva : International Organization for Standardizations.

ISO 14044, 2006. Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines. Geneva : International Organization for Standardizations.

Hassaan, M.A., 2018. Using scholarly big data in assessing contribution of national expertise to climate change knowledge; case study: Egypt. Journal of Data Analysis and Information Processing, 6, 67-78.

Akoka, J., Comyn-Wattiau, I. and Laoufi, N., 2017. Research on big data-a systematic mapping study. Computer Standards and Interfaces, 54, 105-115.

Cohen, M., 2017. A systematic review of urban sustainability assessment literature. Sustainability, 9, 2048. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9112048

Henriksson, P.J.G., Dickson, M.W., Nasr-allah, A.M., Al-Kenawy, D.A.R. and Phillips, M., 2015. Life Cycle Assessment of Egyptian Tilapia Production. [online] Avilable at : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288486017_Life_cycle_assessment_of_Egyptian_tilapia_production

Henriksson, P.J.G., Dickson, M., Nasr-Allah, A.M., Al-Kenawy, D.A.R. and Phillips, M., 2017. Benchmarking the environmental performance of best management practice and genetic improvements in Egyptian aquaculture using life cycle assessment. Aquaculture, 468 (1), 53-59.

Dickson, M. and Henriksson, P., 2016. A Life Cycle Assessment of the Environmental Impacts in the Egyptian Aquaculture Value Chain. [online] Avilable at : https://cgspace.cgiar.org/ handle/10568/78477

Soliman, N.F. and Yacout, D.M.M., 2015. The prospects of analysing the environmental impacts of Egyptian aquaculture using cycle life assessment. International Journal of Aquaculture, 5(37), 1-9.

Yacout, D.M.M., Soliman, N.F. and Yacout, M.M., 2016. Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of tilapia in two production systems. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 21(6), 806-819.

AbdElghaffar, M.A.E., 2007. Life cycle assessment tools for maintenance management and resource conservation. Assiut Universit Bullitin for Environmental Research, 10(1) 73-83.

Ali, A.A.M. and Negm, A.M., 2014. Environmental impacts assessment of the Egyptian brick types using life cycle assessment tool. Energy Procedia, 54, 260-269.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A.M., Bady, F. and Ibrahim, M.G.E., 2014. Moving towards an Egyptian national life cycle inventory database. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 19 (8), 1551-1558.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A., Bady, M. and Ibrahim, M.G.E., 2014. Towards an integrated tool to estimate carbon emissions from life cycle assessment of building materials in Egypt. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology, 2(3), 81-92.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A., Bady, A. and Ibrahim, M.A.G., 2015. Environmental life cycle assessment of residential building in Egypt : a case study. Procedia Technology, 19, 349-356.

Elshafei, G. and Negm, A., 2015. Life cycle assessment as a decision making for window performance comparison in green building design. International Journal of Architectural and Environmental Engineering, 9 (9), 1155-1163.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A.M., Bady, A.F. and Ibrahim, A.G., 2016. Environmental impact assessment of the Egyptian cement industry based on a life-cycle assessment approach : a comparative study between Egyptian and Swiss plants. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 18(4), 1053-1068.

Ibrahim M., and Ali, A.A.M. 2017. Practical case study for life cycle assessment of the Egyptian brick industry: A comparative analysis of the Japanese industry. (unpublished data).

Sharaan, M. and Negm, A., 2017. Life cycle assessment of dredged materials placement strategies: case study, Damietta port, Egypt. Procedia Engineering, 181, 102-108.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A.M., Bady, M. and Ibrahim, M.G.E., 2014. Framework for application of life cycle assessment approach on Egyptian residential building case study : new Assiut city, Egypt. In: ICIME 2014: International Conference in Integrated Management of Environment, Hammamet, Tunisia.

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A.M., Bady, M. and Ibrahim, M.G.E., 2014. Effect of fuel type on the life cycle of Egyptian cement industry: environmental impact assessment approach. In: The Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment, Vol. 4. Osaka, Japan. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4741.2801

Ali, A.A.M., Negm, A.M. and Bady, M., 2014. Estimating carbon emissions from industrial process by using life cycle assessment tool. In: IAC 2014: International Conference on Industry Academia Collaboration, Cairo, Egypt.

Elboshy, B., Negm, A., Gamaleldin, M. and Abdel-Fattah, S., 2017. Life cycle assessment for sidewalk pavement types, case study: extension of new Borg El-Arab city. Procedia Engineering, 181, 370-377.

Ay-Eldeen, M.K. and Negm, A.M., 2015. Global warming potential impact due to pile foundation construction using life cycle assessment. Engineering, 20(12), 4413-4421.

Marzouk, M. and Azab, S., 2017. Analyzing sustainability in low-income housing projects

using system dynamics. Energy and Buildings, 134, 143-153.

Younes, M., Huang, Y. and Hashim, I., 2016. Towards an integrated tool of a life cycle assessment for construction of asphalt pavements in Egypt. Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering, 6(4), 377-388

Azouz M., 2018. The future of green building materials in Egypt: A framework for action. Proceedings of Science and Technolgy, 1(1), 1-13. doi : 10.21625/resourceeedings.vlil.180.

Elkafoury, A. and Negm, A., 2016. Assessment approach of life cycle of vehicles tyres on

Egyptian road network. Periodica Polytechnica Transportation Engineering, 44(2), 75-79.

Mahgoub, M.E.M., van der Steen, N.P., Abu-Zeid, K., and Vairavamoorthy, K., 2010. Towards sustainability in urban water: a life cycle analysis of the urban water system of Alexandria City, Egypt. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18 (10/11), 1100-1106.

Roushdi M., El-Hawary, A. and Mahgoub, M., 2012. Environmental improvement of

Alexandria’s wastewater treatment plants using life cycle assessment approach. Global NEST

Journal, 14(4), 450-459. https://doi.org/10.30955/gnj.000831

Ghazy, M.R., Dockhorn, T. and Dichtl, N., 2011. Economic and environmental assessment of sewage sludge treatment processes applications in Egypt. International Water Technology, 1(2), 1-17.

Awad, H., Alalm, M.G. and El-Etriby, H. Kh., 2019. Environmental and cost life cycle assessment of different alternatives for improvement of wastewater treatment plants in developing countries. Science of the Total Environment, 660 (10), 57-68.

Yacout, D.M.M. and Hassouna, M.S., 2016. Identifying potential environmental impacts of

waste handling strategies in textile industry. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 188,

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5443-8

Garas, G., Bakhoum, E. and Allam, M., 2016. Optimal use of selected waste materials in buildings. Ecology, Environment and Conservation, 22(3), 1129-1136.

Hassanain, E.M., Yacout, D.M.M., Metwally, M.A. and Hassouna, M.S., 2017. Life cycle assessment of waste strategies for used lubricating oil. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 22, 232-1240.

El Sebaie, O., Ahmed, M., Hussein, A., El Sharkawy, F. and Samy, M., 2006. Life cycle analysis of aluminum foil packaging material. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 81(3-4), 199-222.

Yacout, D.M.M., Abd El-Kawi, M.A. and Hassouna, M.S., 2016. Cradle to gate environmental impact assessment of acrylic fiber manufacturing. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 21(3), 326-336.

Bevilacqua, M., Ciarapica, F. E., Mazzuto, G. and Paciarotti, C., 2014. Environmental analysis of a cotton yarn supply chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 82, 154-165.

Aly, E. A. and Managi, S., 2018. Energy infrastructure and their impacts on societies’ capital assets: a hybrid simulation approach to inclusive wealth. Energy Policy, 121, 1-12.

Shaaban, M., Scheffran, J., Böhner, J. and Elsobki, S.M., 2018. Sustainability assessment of electricity generation technologies in Egypt using multi-criteria decision analysis. Energies, 11(5), 1117. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11051117

Armanuos, A.M., Negm, A. and Tahan, A. H. M. H. El. (2016). Life cycle Assessment of diesel fuel and solar pumps in operation stage for rice cultivation in Tanta, Nile Delta, Egypt. Procedia Technology, 22, 478-485.

Menoufi, K., Chemisana, D. and Rosell, J.I. 2017. Life cycle assessment of a building added concentrating photovoltaic system (BACPV). Energy Procedia, 128, 194-201.

Fawzy, M.M. and Romagnoli, F., 2016. Environmental life cycle assessment for Jatropha biodiesel in Egypt. Energy Procedia, 95, 124-131.

Ismaeel, W.S.E. and Elsayed, M.A., 2018. The interplay of environmental assessment methods; characterising the institutional background in Egypt. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 20 (1). https://doi.org/10.1142/S1464333218500035

Yacout, D.M.M., 2018. Potential Applications of Life Cycle Assessment in Climate Change Arena. ARCA Working Paper No. 7.

McManus, M.C. and Taylor, C.M., 2015. The changing nature of life cycle assessment. Biomass Bioenergy, 82, 13-26.

Baker, J.W. and Lepech, M., 2009. Treatment of uncertainties in life cycle assessment. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability, Osaka, Japan, September 13-17, 2009.