Life Cycle Assessment - LCA
Environmental Product Declaration - EPD

Life cycle assessment by experts with academic background and industry experience.

LCA and EPD

The environmental management system according to the ISO 14001 standard is one of the most applied management systems in today’s organizations. Within the ISO 14000 series of standards, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 define the guidelines and framework as well as the requirements and guidelines for LCA. LCA is a method for assessing the impact of products and services on the environment during all phases of the life cycle. A simpler and widely used form of LCA is the carbon footprint, which calculates results for only one impact category, namely the global warming potential expressed in equivalent units of CO2. The results of LCA are used to create EPDs defined by the ISO 14025 standard. EPDs are declarations about the potential impact of products on the environment and are important for the modern products and the European market.
LCA provides benefits to organizations that can be grouped into internal and external applications.

External application:

  • Marketing;
  • Type III environmental label, eco-label, or EPD;
  • Public education and communication;
  • Development of legislation;
  • Support for the establishment of procurement procedures;
  • BREEAM, LEED, DGNB certification of building materials and facilities.

Internal application:

 

  • Strategic planning;
  • Design, improvement and optimization of products and processes;
  • Identification of opportunities for environmental improvements;
  • Support the establishment of procurement procedures/specifications;
  • Eco-design and sustainable design;
  • Environmental audit and waste minimization.

Our LCA team

PhD Igor Budak,
full professor

PhD Đorđe Vukelić,
full professor

PhD Boris Agarski,
assoc. professor

PhD Milana Ilić Mićunović,
assiss. professor.

More than 20 years of experience in the field of LCA:
The research in field of LCA began more than 20 years ago, which resulted in the publication of the book “Mechanical Engineering in Environmental Protection” in 2003, which is one of the first editions in the Serbian language where the basics of LCA are described. The book represents the basic literature on LCA for the study programs of the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, bachelor academic studies in environmental protection engineering, occupational safety engineering, as well as master academic and master professional studies in production engineering. This was followed by the publication of scientific papers at national and international conferences and journals, the acquisition of licensed software for LCA, SimaPro and Gabi, the acquisition of the LCA database Ecoinvent, the organization and chairmanship of the 20th SETAC Europe LCA Case Study Symposium, as well as cooperation with industry.

The organizations we cooperated with in the field of LCA are:

– Tarkett, d.o.o., Bačka Palanka, Serbia – LCA of the production process of floor coverings;
– OSMOR CO, d.o.o., Hajdukovo, Serbia – LCA of the production process of plastic caps;
– Metalleghe silicon (formerly RS-Silicon (until 2022)), Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina – LCA of the production process of silicon metal.

Representative references:

  1. Agarski, B.; Budak, I.; Vukelic, Dj.; Hodolic, J.: Fuzzy Multi-criteria-based impact Category Weighting in Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016, Vol. 112, No. 4, pp. 3256-3266, ISSN: 0959-6526.
  2. Maodus, N., Agarski, B., Kocetov Misulic, T., Budak, I., Radeka, M.: Life cycle and energy performance assessment of three wall types in South-Eastern Europe region, Energy and Buildings, 2016, Vol 113, pp. 605-614, ISSN: 0378-7788.
  3. Agarski, B.; Nikolić, V.; Kamberović, Ž.; Anđić, Z.; Kosec, B.; Budak, I.: Comparative life cycle assessment of Ni-based catalyst synthesis processes, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017, Vol. 162, pp. 7-15, ISSN: 0959-6526.
  4. Milanovic, B.; Agarski, B.; Vukelic, Dj.; Budak, I.; Kiss, F. Comparative exergy-based life cycle assessment of conventional and hybrid base transmitter stations, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017, Vol. 167, pp. 610-618, ISSN: 0959-6526.
  5. Vukelic, Dj.;  Boskovic, N.; Agarski, B.; Radonic, J.; Budak, I.; Pap, S.; Turk Sekulic, M.: Eco-design of a low-cost adsorbent produced from waste cherry kernels, Journal of Cleaner Production 174, 2018, pp. 1620-1628.
  6. Vukelic, Dj.; Simunovic, K.; Simunovic, G.; Saric, T.; Kanovic, Z.; Budak, I.; Agarski, B.: Evaluation of an environment-friendly turning process of Inconel 601 in dry conditions, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020, Vol. 266, ISSN: 0959-6526.
  7. Agarski, B.; Budak, I.; Ilic-Micunovic, M., Vukelic, Dj.: Evaluation of the environmental impact of plastic cap production, packaging, and disposal, Journal of Environmental Management, 2019, Vol. 245, pp. 55-65, ISSN: 0301-4797.
  8. Vukelic, Dj., Budak, I., Tadic, B., Simunovic, G., Kljajic, V., Agarski, B.: Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Life Cycle Assessment Model for Optimal Product Selection: Case Study of Knee Support, International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2017, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 353–364, ISSN: 1735-1472.
  9. Vukelic, Dj., Agarski, B., Budak, I., Simunovic, G., Buchmeister, B., Jakovljevic, Z., Tadic, B.: Eco-design of fixtures based on life cycle and cost assessment, International Journal of Simultation Modelling, 2019, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 72-85, ISSN: 1726-4529.
  10. Nikolić, V.; Agarski, B.; Kamberović, Ž.; Anđić, Z.; Budak, I.; Kosec, B.: Multi-criteria analysis of Ni-based catalysts synthesis methods, Materiali in Tehnologije, Vol. 50, No. 4, 2016, pp. 553-558, ISSN: 1580-2949.