Dr.-Ing.

Albrecht, Stefan

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  • Publication
    Analysis and visualisation of large scale life cycle assessment results: A case study on an adaptive, multilayer membrane façade
    ( 2024-05-17)
    Borschewski, David
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    Prenzel, Tobias Manuel orcid-logo
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
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    Leistner, Philip
    The importance of visualisations in context of life cycle assessment has been widely discussed and acknowledged in the literature. Especially with the increasing ability to process and create large-scale LCA results, visualisations are vital tools to not only analyse and interpret but also check and validate underlying datasets. Based on a dataset containing 1.25 million LCA results for all potential configurations within a defined parameter space, different visualisations and analysis methods were applied to identify hotspots, assess parameter sensitivity, gain insights to optimise environmental sustainability, and provide benchmarks for an adaptive, multilayer membrane façade. Box plots for the identification of hotspots, parameter sensitivity, and benchmarking, as well as colour-coded scatter plots, have proven to be incredibly versatile and effective for understanding the results and providing multiple perspectives to gain further insight. The ability to interact directly with interactive visualisation in order to identify and isolate specific areas of interest allows for a very efficient analysis of the relevant aspects of data. However, the usefulness of the proposed visualisations is not only dependant on the quality and characteristic of the underlying data but also on the objectives and scope of the study, as well as the intended medium illustrating the results.
  • Publication
    Grill and chill: A comprehensive analysis of the environmental impacts of private household barbecuing in germany
    ( 2024-01-25)
    Geng, Shaoran
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    Dorling, Kevin Christopher
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    Prenzel, Tobias Manuel orcid-logo
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
    Rising environmental consciousness has prompted increased scrutiny of the environmental impact of everyday activities, such as barbecuing - a popular summertime activity in Germany. This study aimed to explore the environmental impacts of three grilling techniques, charcoal (including reusable types such as swivel, round, and kettle grills, as well as disposable charcoal grills), gas, and electric grills, utilizing a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach including the manufacturing of grills, consumption of energy sources and grilling ingredients, as well as the end-of-life of the grills. Five impact categories were considered: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), abiotic depletion potential fossil (ADP), and land use (LU) according to the CML2016 and ReCiPe 2016 methodology. This study found that a barbeque event for four people results in GWP, AP, EP, ADP, and LU values ranging from 18 to 20 kg CO2-eq., 174 to 179 g SO2-eq., 166 to 167 g PO4-eq., 102 to 138 MJ, and 36 to 38 m2 annual crop-eq., respectively, across different types of grills. Furthermore, the ingredients proved to be the most significant contributor, surpassing 70% in all impact categories. Among the three types of grills, the electric grill emerged as the most environmentally friendly, while the disposable grill had the greatest environmental impact across the majority of categories. Lastly, the environmental impacts of varying consumer behaviors were evaluated to potentially assist consumers in adopting more sustainable grilling practices.
  • Publication
    Bringing light into the dark - Overview of environmental impacts of carbon fiber production and potential levers for reduction
    ( 2024)
    Prenzel, Tobias Manuel orcid-logo
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    Hohmann, Andrea
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    Prescher, Tim
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    Angerer, Kerstin
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    Wehner, Daniel orcid-logo
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    Ilg, Robert
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    Reden, Tjark von
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    Drechsler, Klaus
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
    Carbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, often based on scarce transparent inventory data. To expand the current knowledge and create a robust database for future evaluation, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out. To this end, a detailed industry-approved LCI is published, which also proved plausible against the literature. Subsequently, based on a global scenario representing the market averages for precursor and CF production, the most relevant contributors to climate change (EF3.1 climate change, total) and the depletion of fossil energy carriers (EF3.1 resource use, fossil) were identified. The energy consumption in CF manufacturing was found to be responsible for 59% of the climate change and 48% of the fossil resource use. To enable a differentiated discussion of manufacturing locations and process energy consumption, 24 distinct scenarios were assessed. The findings demonstrate the significant dependence of the results on the scenarios’ boundary conditions: climate change ranges from 13.0 to 34.1 kg CO2 eq./kg CF and resource use from 262.3 to 497.9 MJ/kg CF. Through the investigated scenarios, the relevant reduction potentials were identified. The presented results help close an existing data gap for high-quality, regionalized, and technology-specific LCA results for the production of CF.
  • Publication
    Sustainability screening in the context of advanced material development for printed electronics
    ( 2021)
    Gehring, Florian orcid-logo
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    Prenzel, Tobias Manuel orcid-logo
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    Graf, Roberta orcid-logo
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
    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.
  • Publication
    Influence of design properties of printed electronics on their environmental profile
    ( 2021)
    Prenzel, Tobias Manuel orcid-logo
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    Gehring, Florian orcid-logo
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    Fuhs, Franziska
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
    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.