Herramienta de la verdad

This section provides an overview to the manufacturing process, manufacturing LCI, and background data sources for the material inputs. Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified (oxidized) linseed oil (called linoxyn), tall oil, pine rosin, wood flour, powdered cork, and mineral fillers like limestone (Lippiatt C. Barbara, 2007 p. 160-2 and Extonet Ltd., 2010). This cradle-to- gate LCI was developed using the existing LCI data available in the BEES manual for generic linoleum sheet flooring. As stated in BEES, linoleum is exported from Europe to the US, and hence, the manufacturing facility location was considered as Europe in creating the inventory.

3.6.1 Manufacturing overview

The manufacturing process involves boiling oil, mixing with melted resins, and combining with other raw materials such as wood floor, powdered cork, resins etc. The mixture is then formed into a backing (e.g. jute) by applying heat and pressure to produce continuous long sheets. The sheets are then dried by

hanging them in drying rooms or in ovens. Once the required flexibility and resilience is reached, sheets are then cut into rolls to produce the final flooring product ready for shipment (Lippiatt C., Barbara, 2007 p. 183 and Extonet Ltd., 2010). Figure 9 illustrates the cradle-to-gate processes included in the system boundary.

Figure 9 Cradle-to-gate linoleum manufacturing system boundary

3.6.2 Data Sources for Raw Materials

3.6.2.1 Linseed oil production

LCI data available in the IDEMAT 2001 database13 was used to fulfill most of the data requirements to develop an inventory for the production of linseed oil. Linseed oil production requires cultivation and harvesting of linseed and extraction of oil from seeds. Table 20 andTable 21 show the inputs used during seed production and oil extraction. Diesel tractors are used during land preparation and harvesting while fertilizer is added during plant growth. Since IDEMAT 2001 database does not provide the energy consumption data for oil extraction from flax seeds, the ecoinvent data on fuel oil consumption in crude coconut oil extraction was used as a surrogate. BEES has allocated environmental burden of linseed oil production on an economic basis to linseed oil (87%) and linseed cake (13%). The same allocation factors were used in creating the model.

13

See http://www.idemat.nl/ Input Production and

Transport Linoleum Manufacturing Energy (electricity, natural gas) Linoleum Flooring Emissions to air, water, and

soil Flax Seed Production Linseed Oil Tall Oil Rosin Wood flour Cork flour Jute Limestone Pigment Acrylic Lacquer Raw material preparation e.g. cork flour

Raw material mixing

Linoleum Production

Table 20 Inputs used in flax seed production

Inputs Unit Amount per kg of linseed

Fertilizer kg 0.14

Diesel l 0.25

Source: IDEMAT 2001

Table 21 Inputs used in linseed oil production

Inputs Unit Amount per kg of linseed oil

Linseed* kg 2.78

Fuel oil** MJ 0.297

Source: * IDEMAT 2001 ** Ecoinvent data

3.6.2.2 Other raw materials

The LCI data sources used to model the other material inputs to linoleum production are shown in Table 22. Tall oil is a co-product of the Kraft process of wood pulp manufacturing. The value of the tall oil produced in that process is one percent of the total value of all the products and co-products (Gorree M. et.a al., 2000. p. 20), and the tall oil yield during wood pulp manufacturing amounts to 30-50 kg per tonne of pulp produced (Stenius Per (ed), 2000, p.74). LCI data available in the ecoinvent database was used with that allocation factor to model tall oil consumption in linoleum manufacturing. As stated in the BEES manual, pine rosin harvesting is a manual process and hence, assumed no environmental burden is caused during the production of this raw material (Lippiatt C. Barbara, 2007 p. 185).

Table 22 LCI Data sources for other inputs

Raw material Data source Tall oil Franklin data for Kraft paper

Limestone US LCI data

Wood flour US LCI data

Cork flour US EI data

Pigment US EI data

Jute (backing) US EI data Acrylic lacquer US EI data

3.6.3 Manufacturing LCI

Raw material and energy inputs stated in Lippiatt C. Barbara (2007: p. 162-3) were used to model the environmental burden of manufacturing linoleum. Raw material and energy usage, as well as emissions, caused by manufacturing 1000 sq ft. of linoleum flooring are shown in Table 23. Raw material transportation distances are provided in Table 24.

Table 23 Inputs and environmental emissions for manufacturing 1000 sq.ft of linoleum flooring

Inputs Unit Amount

Raw materials Linseed oil kg 62.25 Tall oil kg 17.47 Pine rosin kg 3.34 Limestone kg 47.29 Wood flour kg 81.48 Cork flour kg 13.38 Pigment (TiO2) kg 11.80 Jute (backing) kg 29.08 Acrylic lacquer kg 0.93 Energy Electricity kWh 158.26 Natural gas MJ 2749.64 Air emissions

Volatile organic compounds (VOC)

g 4.60

Solvents g 2.70

Particulates (unspecified) g 0.66

Source: Lippiatt C. Barbara, 2007 p. 162-3, 184

Table 24 Raw material transport modes and distances

Raw material Distance (km) Mode

Linseed oil 4350 Ocean freighter

1500 Train

Tall oil 2000 Ocean freighter

Pine rosin 2000 Ocean freighter

Limestone 800 Train

Wood flour 600 Train

Cork flour 2000 Ocean freighter

Pigment (TiO2) 500 Diesel truck

Jute (backing) 10000 Ocean freighter

Acrylic lacquer 500 Diesel truck

Source: Lippiatt C. Barbara, 2007 p. 164

3.6.4 Missing LCI data

The existing LCI data sources lacks information on ancillary materials and the amount of energy used for internal handling of materials (i.e. fuels used for forklifts etc.) during the manufacturing process and packing materials used to pack final flooring product ready for shipment. In addition, BEES does not provide trucking distances for the transportation of raw materials to the flooring manufacturing facility.