Conducting Life Cycle Assessment with PEF
The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), which is introduced by the European Union, is a quantitative assessment of the environmental impacts from a product throughout the entire life cycle stages. PEF is consistent with the principles of the ISO 14040 and 14044 life cycle assessment. In 2022, Plant 2 of OPTC collaborated with the Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) on quantifying the environmental impacts of PTA products, including depletion of water resources and fossil fuels, carbon footprints and particulate matter/respiratory Inorganics. The results serve as the basis for formulating strategies to mitigate PTA-related environmental impacts, such as using reclaimed water for domestic consumption to reduce impacts from depletion of water resources. The study also evaluates the installation of reverse osmosis devices at the cooling tower and reduction of natural gas consumption through energy-conserving measures; explores the feasibility of hydrogen fuel production and applications; examines the control and optimization of operational parameters for AI in the reactor to reduce energy consumption during production.