Applied sustainability in industry: The BASF eco-eEfficiency toolbox

For successful implementation of sustainability in industry robust assessments of products and processes are necessary that quantify environmental aspects under consideration of costs. The sustainability needs of companies vary greatly according to region, sector and stakeholder. BASF has developed a toolbox for eco-efficiency assessments that addresses the broad range of in-house and external needs, allowing flexibility while ensuring that relevant and sufficient environmental impact is covered to support decision-making based on quantified sustainability assessments. The toolbox is based on standard practices for life cycle assessment to support strategic decisions, product development and marketing. Environmental impact assessment follows ISO 14040 and 14044. Impacts are aggregated to an overall environmental impact. Life cycle costs are similarly determined and may be combined with environmental impact to an overall Eco-Efficiency Portfolio and Eco-Efficiency Index. The relevance check ensures inclusion of main impact categories and coverage of sufficient environmental impacts. A peer-reviewed case study on the treatment of flowback from fracturing operations demonstrates the applicability of the Eco-Efficiency Analysis. Deposition of flowback in existing hydrocarbon-containing reservoirs was compared with treatment in preparation for disposal to a municipal waste water treatment plant. The Reservoir option is more eco-efficient both at low and high flowback volumes. Disadvantages of the waste water treatment option include the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the high energy needed for the removal of dissolved solids from the flowback. The relevance check shows that climate change is the dominant environmental impact, but photochemical ozone formation, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, human toxicity and resource depletion (mineral & fossil) are significant as well.