ecoinvent v3.11

This release includes a comprehensive update on Swiss agricultural production, made possible by our close collaboration with Agroscope, our Swiss data provider. The update consists of detailed datasets covering fruit-bearing trees such as apples and peaches, cereal grains such as barley, maize, and wheat, root and cruciferous vegetables such as carrots and cauliflower, and protein-rich legume crops like peas and fava beans.

Conventional and organic farming methods are covered across Switzerland’s mountain, hill, and plain subregions, contributing to a total of 136 new datasets that offer deeper insight into Swiss farming.

The battery sector has been updated with two new chemistries of Li-ion batteries: NMC532 (Nickel Cobalt Manganese) and NMC622 for Chinese and Global geographies. The new datasets include the cathode active material precursor (NMC hydroxide), the cathode active material (NMC oxide), the cathode, the cell, and the battery pack. These are modeled following the same approach as the other Li-ion batteries in the database. A new activity for lithium titanate spinel was developed as an additional anode active material. A dataset for sodium-ion battery electrolytes was also developed to support new battery technologies.

The production route for synthetic graphite production in the Chinese geography was updated based on a collaboration with Tokai COBEX and in line with a newly published paper. Natural graphite production in China for battery application was also added to the database.

Finally, the battery sector is moving toward a comprehensive content update focused on updating market datasets and harmonizing the production volume of Li-ion battery components.

The v3.11 update brings rich enhancements to the ecoinvent database’s building and construction sector, including a wealth of new data and several updates. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Cement Association of Canada (CAC) collaborated to develop new datasets for limestone extraction, primary crushing, clinker production, and cement manufacturing. These datasets cover both average Canadian production (CA) and specific data for Ontario (CA-ON).

Datasets about limestone extraction and crushing form the basis for subsequent datasets on clinker manufacturing, which share the same geographical scope. The clinker datasets, in turn, are used to create four additional datasets for general use (GU) and general use limestone (GUL) cement, per the CSA A3001 standard, while also referencing other relevant North American standards such as ASTM C150 and ASTM C595. Additionally, an internally developed dataset on integrated cement plants in Canada (CA) is introduced in v3.11, offering a comprehensive representation of the facilities and machinery used for manufacturing clinker and cement mixes, covering all major stages of production.

Furthermore, several updates on the sector’s existing datasets have been performed for v3.11. The supply chain of limestone and lime products has been revised, where the names and properties of the upstream activities and products have been modified, and the production volumes, and therefore the market shares, have been updated. Other updates include the revision of the production activities of lime mortar, cement mortar, concrete 50MPa, concrete block (several), limestone, hydraulic lime, quicklime, sand, gravel, glazing (double and triple), bitumen seal, shale brick, and thermal plaster.

The chemicals sector in ecoinvent v3.11 is updated to improve the data representation for key chemical precursors, such as carbon monoxide, acetic acid and its esters, acrylic esters, cumene, nitrobenzene, 2,4-dinitrotoluene, aniline, phosgene, and bisphenol A. Hence, this dedicated supply chain enhancement improves the representation of various chemical and plastic derivatives, including isocyanates, polyurethanes, epoxy resins, and polycarbonates.

Furthermore, ecoinvent v3.11 replaces previously aggregated data for methyl chloride, methyl methacrylate, and polymethyl methacrylate from previous database versions with disaggregated unit processes, enabling accurate linking to the ecoinvent background data.

Moreover, v3.11 introduces updated industry data covering the supply of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride production, provided by the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers, and unsaturated polyester (UP) and epoxy vinyl ester (VE) resins, provided by the European UP/VE Resins Association. This includes (1) VE resins based on bisphenol A epoxy and (2) UP resins based on dicyclopentadiene, isophthalic acid, maleic and o-phthalic acids, as well as recycled polyethylene terephthalate. Additionally, ecoinvent v3.11 features new data for composite manufacturing, provided by Centre Technique Industriel, IPC, i.e., compression, molding, pultrusion, manual/hand processes, and filament winding processes, to expand the ecoinvent data coverage in this domain.

Finally, the chemicals sector in ecoinvent v3.11 builds on the work completed in preceding versions by updating existing data, expanding their geographical coverage whenever possible, and including 18 new products not previously covered. Specifically, ecoinvent v3.11 introduces data for selected chemicals in Asia as aggregate regions or individual countries and in the United States. These efforts will continue for future releases.

ecoinvent 3.11 updates the electricity market mixes to reflect the situation in 2021. In the specific cases of Brazil, China, the USA, Canada, and Switzerland, the electricity mixes have been updated to reflect the situation in 2022. India was updated to represent the fiscal year of April 2021/March 2022. All specific cases are based on national statistics, while the remaining countries are based on global statistics. Starting with version 3.11, the global statistics are based on statistics from the Enerdata database. The residual mixes reflect the newest data for 2023.

In addition to minor corrections, harmonization efforts were made to update documentation and meta information on electricity markets, transformation, and import datasets.

The wood and forestry sector updates focused on updating existing data and documentation, particularly the production volumes of forestry activities. Additionally, the sector was affected by the biogenic carbon corrections, which were performed on a database-wide scale.

The new ecoinvent version 3.11 builds on the extensive oil and gas overhaul in versions 3.9.1 (2022) and 3.10 (2023). New or updated natural gas supplies at high pressure are provided for 57 countries, representing 88% of global gas consumption, based on the supply situation in 2023. Furthermore, the estimates for onshore/offshore pipeline transport and LNG shipping distances have been revised in v3.11 for improved regionalization. The supply mixes for crude petroleum oil in Switzerland, Europe without Switzerland, the Region of North America (RNA), Brazil (BR), Colombia (CO), India (IN), Peru (PE), and South Africa (ZA) are updated to reflect the trade situation in 2023. Based on the latest trade statistics for 2023, this update reflects the effect of the shift in the natural gas supply chain due to geopolitical developments in recent years, especially in the European market.

Additionally, version 3.11 includes updated supply chains for both lignite and hard coal based on 2022 data, with revised methane emission factors for mining and updated production volumes. To enhance regionalization, hard coal mining activities have been expanded to include four new European geographies, while hard coal market activities now encompass 22 new geographies within Europe, as well as newly differentiated markets in Japan and South Korea. Several new hard coal import activities have also been added, providing a more accurate and detailed representation of global coal trade flows. Lastly, meta information has been updated, corrected, and harmonized across all hard coal and lignite datasets.

This update expands and improves the data coverage of the metals sector with new and updated data. ecoinvent v3.11 introduces data on the production of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) in Europe and a related dataset on the production of a 3.2% silicon alloy steel used as feedstock in the production of GOES. Two datasets on gallium production in China are added: low-grade and high-grade (data provided by Empa).

Improvements in the current coverage of the metal sector encompass various aspects, namely, updating properties such as metal content and prices, adding missing exchanges, or renaming them. Prices were updated for approximately 60 metal products based on the ISE (Institute of Rare Earths and Strategic Metals) database. Metal content properties were updated or added to more than 100 metal products.

Mining datasets were updated by integrating previously missing gangue exchanges, improving their impact assessment. Finally, some metal scrap exchanges were renamed to enhance clarity and help users quickly identify the relevant exchange they need.

The pulp and paper sector has been enhanced by adding three new datasets related to paper-based packaging for fast food applications. The activities model all kinds of tableware production, such as paper cups and lids, burger wraps, and fry boxes. The data was provided by EPPA (European Paper Packaging Alliance). Existing activities related to beverage carton converting and kraft paper and paper sack production were updated with recent industry data.

ACE (The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment) and ifeu (Institut für Energie und Umweltforschung) provided the data for beverage carton conversion. CEPI Eurokraft and Eurosac, in collaboration with RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), supplied the data related to kraft paper.

The Transport sector in version 3.11 benefits from three main updates. The first one is the update of the circulating fleet of passenger cars in Europe and on a global scale, aiming to improve the representativeness of the circulating fleet. The second update aims to improve the clarity and accessibility of datasets. Adopting a standardized nomenclature for all the transport datasets makes it possible to identify the differences between datasets more easily. The third update includes new datasets related to aircraft maintenance at a European and global scale. The datasets are based on flight and maintenance schedules tailored for the different haulage that each dataset has.

In version 3.11, the waste sector is enhanced with various data additions and updates covering multiple topics. The datasets modeling the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the 27 EU countries, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, are now fully regionalized. They are based on customized elemental and fractional compositions of waste generated regionally, while each country has an updated, local technology treatment mix. The respective markets also employ regionalized transport distances and regionalized losses when needed.

Extensive changes have also been implemented in the field of plastic recycling. New data is added to model the mechanical recycling of plastic waste in Europe in collaboration with Plastics Recyclers Europe. The modeled polymers include waste polyethylene (PE), polyethylene/polypropylene (PE/PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP),  acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene/ polystyrene (ABS/PS), and mixed plastics generated from many different sources like household, industrial, agricultural, commercial, construction and demolition, WEEE, etc. On top of that, chemical recycling of waste polyester is modeled in China in collaboration with Alibaba Cloud – Energy Experts. Waste polyester is sourced from industrial textile production activities and chemically treated into polyethylene terephthalate pellets. Another type of chemical recycling is incorporated by modeling hydrothermal treatment of waste mixed plastics in the United Kingdom. Mura Technology provided the data in collaboration with the University of Warwick.

Moreover, two more treatment processes are added. The first covers the treatment of wastewater generated during textile production in Europe and global geography. The second represents the treatment of graphite tailings from mining operations of natural graphite in China. Finally, a harmonized nomenclature is applied to all waste and scrap metals to clarify the fate of metal by-products, for example, whether the flow is treated via incineration, landfill, etc., or recycled to be reused.

For version 3.11, non-fossil carbon flows were updated and balanced with particular attention to biogenic carbon uptake. This allows the characterization of non-fossil carbon dioxide with -1/+1 for removals/releases when assessing climate change impacts following IPCC, which is demanded by some standards and guidelines such as ISO 14067. The implementation of this was done by introducing a complementary method (“IPCC 2021 (incl. biogenic CO2)”) to the existing one (“IPCC 2021”). Impact categories from the two methods can be mapped to standards and guidelines—more information on this can be found in our Guidance on IPCC Methods.

Furthermore, in the ‘Allocation, cut-off, EN15804’ system model, which is used to create Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the nomenclature used for the indicator names has been updated. For version 3.11, the indicator names are better aligned with the nomenclature used in the EN15804+A2 and EN15804+A1 standards. This will help users find the right indicator.