Dr.-Ing.

Albrecht, Stefan

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Process-based life cycle assessment for the manufacturing of functional materials and printed electronics

2023-06-16 , Prenzel, Tobias Manuel , Gehring, Florian , Narres, Nicoletta , Fuhs, Franziska , Albrecht, Stefan

Printed electronics are a massively researched technology that is continuously developing new materials, processes, and applications. With the increasing interest in the technology, also the associated environmental impacts gain growing importance. Therefore, insights on processes for functional material production and device manufacturing in the domain of printed electronics are required to provide a solid data baseline for determining environmental impacts of printed electronic devices and in a subsequent step benchmark them against conventional electronics. The document at hand summarizes the outcomes of task T11.5 - Pilot line LCA from the publicly funded EU-project LEE-BED (grant agreement no. 814485). The main objectives of the work conducted in this specific work package are the information of material developers, pilot line operators and potential users of printed electronics on the environmental impacts resulting from different production technologies. This means that the manufactured products (demonstrators, end user products) are explicitly not focused on, even though data collection for production processes naturally cannot be performed completely independently of products. Within the project, the outcomes of this task are fed back to the phase 1 service - life cycle analysis, developed in WP3 and applied in WP9 and WP10 in the project duration.

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Sustainability screening in the context of advanced material development for printed electronics

2021 , Gehring, Florian , Prenzel, Tobias Manuel , Graf, Roberta , Albrecht, Stefan

Flexible, ultra-light and wafer-thin – the future of electronics is printed! The cornerstones for this development are conductive inks and adhesives that connect components and sensors with each other, integrating them into a printed environment. A decisive role hereby is played by advanced materials, such as functional inks, and their interaction in final devices for application in various use-cases. For this purpose, various particle structures in the nanometre range are created that enable the required conductivity, while keeping material input of the conductive substance as low as possible. Due to the excellent properties, the versatile functionalities, the possible high production volumes and the associated reduced production costs a wide range of applications is facilitated through printed electronics and mass markets become accessible. Therefore, associated environmental impacts as well as the security of the supply chain are expected to gain further relevance in the future. Yet, as most of the processes are in a development stage, prospective assessments before the start of production are essential, if development of printed electronics shall be aligned with sustainability goals. In order to address environmental consequences of future implementations of advanced materials for printed electronics at an early stage, this contribution is considering and evaluating the sustainable effects in a comprehensive assessment even before the physical start of product and material development. To this end, a procedure was developed, in which underlying methodology enables development engineers to identify hotspots at an early stage and to address and mitigate them early on. This way, challenges of tomorrow’s circular economy are already being addressed today and critical sustainability pitfalls can be avoided.

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Environmental impacts and implications of RFID tags

2019 , Gehring, Florian , Prenzel, Tobias Manuel , Albrecht, Stefan

The European Union (EU) funded project Nano-Enabled Conducting Materials Accelerating Device Applicability (NECOMADA), Grant Agreement Number: 720897, has the ambition incorporate advanced functional materials to deliver customised conductive inks and flexible adhesives compatible with high volume manufacturing platforms. Specifically the development of these enabling materials will support high speed roll-to-roll (R2R) integration of hybrid and large area electronics to address internet of things opportunities. The overall NECOMADA objective is the delivery of conductive inks and adhesives compatible with R2R application on flexible substrates via a high speed printing and/ or pick and place conversion. The project targets substantial reduction in device costs compared with the current state of the art. This is achieved through the combination of formulated structured nanomaterials (conductive inks/ adhesives) with R2R printing, coating, and component pick and place at pilot scale to demonstrate the potential for low cost, robust, high volume device manufacturing. The objective of this study is to raise awareness about relevant sustainability issues for materials developed within NECOMADA, machinery and processes used, as well as appliers of the new technology. This is done by describing the environmental impacts of the RFID tags developed in the scope of NECOMADA, as well as the findings during the investigation. In this study, four packaging applications are examined (food boxes, aluminium can, plastic detergent bottle, and medical blister) and their implications to the product is analysed. Figure 1 shows the investigated systems over their life cycle stages. Figure 1: Investigated systems of the study over their life cycle stages In the system ""RFID tag"" the environmental impacts of its life cycle stages are assessed. This includes the manufacturing of conductive particles, inks and adhesives, as well as components like ICs and substrates. Finally, the NECOMADA pilot line brings materials and components together via printing, attaching and converting.

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Carbon Footprint von Verpackungssystemen für Obst- und Gemüsetransporte in Europa

2018 , Krieg, Hannes , Gehring, Florian , Fischer, Matthias , Albrecht, Stefan

Ziel dieser Arbeit: Vergleich des CO2-Fußabdruckes von Obst- und Gemüsetransports in Einweg-Kartonbehältern (CB) und Mehrweg-Kunststoffbehältern (RPC) nach ISO 14040/44.

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Reusable Plastic Crates vs. Single-Use Cardboard Boxes

2022 , Albrecht, Stefan , Bertling, Jürgen , Fischer, Matthias , Gehring, Florian , Kabasci, Stephan , Prescher, Tim , Schulte, Anna

A.: Reusable plastic crates vs. single-use cardboard boxes-two packaging systems in competition, Oberhausen/Stuttgart 2022.

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Influence of design properties of printed electronics on their environmental profile

2021 , Prenzel, Tobias Manuel , Gehring, Florian , Fuhs, Franziska , Albrecht, Stefan

In the context of an Internet of things (IoT) vision, printed and embedded electronics have gained serious momentum over recent years. Large leaps in innovation promote the applicability of the technology and help reduce device cost significantly. Additionally, printed electronics are often perceived as a green technology with high potential of replacing established subtractive manufacturing methods and act as an enabler in many areas of society. However, their environmental impacts are still rarely investigated thoroughly. Device development for printed electronics typically starts with the definition of functionalities rather than exact knowledge about components and materials, making an integrated early-stage life cycle assessment (LCA) of the devices challenging due to the typically large amount of possible technical solutions for each use case. This contribution fundamentally supports the idea that getting involved with environmental considerations as early as possible in the development is pivotal in avoiding sustainability pitfalls from the start. Consequently, several LCA studies are summarised focusing on three different sustainability scopes: material, production and device, as well as use-phase and end-of-life. The work aims to provide an overview over the sustainability potentials and risks of the production processes of printed electronics from flexible substrates and conductive inks based on micro- and nano-sized particles. Different filler materials for the inks are considered, as their impact heavily influences the overall device impacts. In conclusion, recommendations for further work in the field are derived, summarising potentials of printed electronics, while equally considering remaining challenges. Thus, the conducted work contributes to a better understanding of environmental impacts in the development of printed electronics and helps applying the findings already at the very first development stages.

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Deliverable 11.4. Sustainability module for pilot line

2019 , Gehring, Florian , Prenzel, Tobias Manuel , Albrecht, Stefan , Viitanen, Anna-Kaisa , Kanerva, Tomi

The sustainability module makes sure users of the pilot line are able to receive sustainability-related information about NECOMADA products they order. This is integrated in the configuration/order process as opt-out feature. The goal is to increase the sustainability awareness of future beneficiaries of the NECOMADA project. In a broader sense, it contributes to a future in which sustainability qualities of products are commonplace next to classic qualities such as effectiveness, cost and reliability. The sustainability-related information about the ordered NECOMADA product is provided in the form of a sustainability fact sheet. The sustainability fact sheet focuses on two life cycle assessment impact categories, climate change and resource depletion - minerals and metals. Both categories are recommended by the European Commission to measure and communicate environmental performance of products. Based on the relevance of greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction of these emissions the sustainability fact sheet focuses on the anthropogenic (induced by human activities) climate change. The associated environmental impact category is the Global Warming Potential (GWP), which is expressed in kilogram carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO2-eq.). The environmental impact category 'Global Warming Potential' will be analysed for a period of 100 years (GWP100). For this purpose, the EF3.0 characterization factors are used, which are described in the IPCC 2013 report.

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Mehrwegsteige aus Kunststoff vs. Einwegkarton aus Pappe

2022 , Albrecht, Stefan , Bertling, Jürgen , Fischer, Matthias , Gehring, Florian , Kabasci, Stephan , Prescher, Tim , Schulte, Anna

Weg vom Kunststoff hin zu Papier, Karton oder Pappe - wie nachhaltig ist der neue Verpackungstrend? In diesem Bericht erläutern das Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik UMSICHT und das Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik IBP im Auftrag der Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (SIM) Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge zu ökologischen Wirkungen des Einwegkartons und der Kunststoff-Mehrwegsteige. Ein darauf aufbauender genereller Diskurs zum Thema Einweg vs. Mehrweg soll Akteuren der Politik Hilfestellung geben, die richtigen Weichen für eine funktionierende Kreislaufwirtschaft der Zukunft zu stellen.

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Dokumentation des CO2-Umweltrechners 2020

2020 , Gehring, Florian , Albrecht, Stefan , Fischer, Matthias , Ilg, Robert

Frisches Obst und Gemüse sind aus dem Einzelhandel nicht mehr wegzudenken. Die ganzjährige Bereitstellung bedingt dabei komplexe logistische Prozesse, bei denen größtenteils zwei unterschiedlicheVerpackungssysteme eingesetzt werden: Mehrwegverpackungen aus Kunststoff (Reusable Plastic Crates - RPC) sowie Einwegverpackungen aus Kartonagen (Cardboard Boxes -CB). Im Auftrag der Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (SIM) erstellte das Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik IBP, Abteilung Ganzheitliche Bilanzierung GaBi, im Jahr 2018 die Studie »Carbon Footprint von Verpackungssystemen für Obst- und Gemüsetransporte in Europa«. Die Studie wurde zur Quantifizierung der Treibhausgasemissionen beider Verpackungssysteme unter den Vorgaben der Normen ISO 140402 und ISO 140443 erstellt. Dadurch trägt die Studie zur Entscheidungsunterstützung von Marktteilnehmern bei und kann einen Beitrag zu betrieblichen Nachhaltigkeitsberichten (wie z.B. GRI4 oder GHG Protocol5) leisten. Die Bewertung des Carbon Footprints geht Hand in Hand mit der Bewertung der Klimaänderung des Klimawandels. Die Europäische Kommission empfiehlt hierzu die Wirkungskategorie »Climate Change«. Mit der Umsetzung des CO2-Umweltrechners stellt die Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg den Marktbeteiligten und der Öffentlichkeit einen CO2-Umweltrechner zur Verfügung, der den Nutzern erlaubt, bedienerfreundlich und individuell den Carbon Footprints einer eingegebenen Transportaufgabe zu berechnen.

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Carbon footprint of packaging systems for fruit and vegetable transports in Europe

2018 , Krieg, Hannes , Gehring, Florian , Fischer, Matthias , Albrecht, Stefan

Ziel dieser Arbeit: Vergleich des CO2-Fußabdruckes von Obst- und Gemüsetransports in Einweg-Kartonbehältern (CB) und Mehrweg-Kunststoffbehältern (RPC) nach ISO 14040/44.

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