| Abstract [eng] |
The production of Cellulose Acetate Fibers is considered one of the regenerated Fiber production pathways in the textile industry, but its Environmental Impact still depends on the raw materials used, energy consumption, and applied technological processes. In this thesis, the Environmental Impact of Cellulose Acetate Yarn production was assessed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method by comparing different raw material scenarios. The study evaluated yarn production from virgin Cellulose and secondary Cellulose obtained from Recycled textile waste. In addition, the influence of different proportions of Recycled materials and energy sources on the final results was analysed, together with End-of-Life scenarios including energy recovery and Recycling. The study was carried out in accordance with ISO 14040/44:2006 standards. The functional unit selected for the assessment was 1 kg of Cellulose Acetate Yarn. The assessment was performed using SimaPro 9.0 software and the ReCiPe 2016 method. System boundaries were defined, inventory analysis was performed, and Environmental Impacts were evaluated according to endpoint Impact categories, including human health, ecosystems, and resources. The modeling results showed that the greatest contribution to the overall Environmental Impact originated from the use of acetic anhydride and energy consumption processes. Comparing virgin and Recycled raw material scenarious indicated that, when evaluating only the production stage (“gate-to-gate”), differences in most Impact categories did not exceed 2 %. However, after expanding the system boundaries and including End-of-Life processess, the Recycling scenario showed and increase in Environmental Impact of 51.5 % in the human health category, 48.5 % in ecosystems, and 29.2 % in recouses compared with the energy recovery scenario. The largest differences between scenarios were identified in marine eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity. Analysis of different Recycled material proportions showed that the highest Environmental Impacts occurred in partial Recycling scenarios, where both virgin and Recycled raw materials were used simultaneously. In contrast, the 100 % Recycled Cellulose scenario resulted in reduced Impacts across most Impact categories. Additional integration of solar energy further reduced Impacts in human health, ecosystems, and resource categories. Sensitivity analysis showed that reducing acetic anhydride and electricity consumption by 10 % resulted in a 4–7 % reduction in Endpoint category results, while no significant changes in overall assessment trends were identified. The obtained results indicate that the Environmental Impact of Cellulose Acetate Fiber production can be reduced by optimising technological processess, increasing the use of Recycled raw materials, and applying renewable energy sources. |
