New Life Cycle Inventories of chemicals used in the production of airframe parts

New Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) of chemicals used in the production of airframe parts has been developed by Fraunhofer in the Eco-Design Transversal Activity (ECO-TA) Platform of Clean Sky. Clean Sky, a Public Private Partnership between the European Commission and the Aeronautical Industry and the largest European aeronautics research programme, funds research activities to deliver significant reduction of the environmental footprint of aviation. In order to ensure the environmental improvement of the new materials and technologies, Fraunhofer performs the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of some airframe demonstrators, such as thermoset wing, thermoplastic and metallic fuselage, and cabin interior parts. However, one of the main challenges is the missing LCI data. Since the database is the core of an LCA, Fraunhofer itself has developed life cycle inventories of various chemical products used in the manufacturing of metal and polymer parts and in recycling processes related to airplane applications. Moreover, in Clean Sky the new technologies have to be developed in accordance with REACH - Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. These technologies make use of chemicals such as corrosion inhibiting primer based on leaching inhibitor technology (Strontium chloride, Zinc phosphate); chemical solvent stripping (paint removal non-phenolic) and preparation of sol-gel solutions (3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl glycidyl ether, Trichlorsilan), which are not available in the current LCA databases (open source data, OpenLCA, ecoinvent, GaBi, etc). As one of Fraunhofer’s institutes specialised in chemistry, Fraunhofer ICT (Institute for Chemical Technology) has the necessary know-how and infrastructure to gather more accurate data and develop new and more reliable LCIs for chemical products. At the moment, more than 60 new LCIs are being modelled by Fraunhofer ICT, with the development of a new classification system that aims at creating different clusters of chemical traits, processes and uses that will improve usability and accessibility of said data. With the development of these LCIs and database, the classification and the environmental impact - especially the toxicity - of these chemicals can be better assessed and compared.