ifu hamburg umberto®

INVENT IVE ENGINEERS SER VING THE ENVIRONMENT

umberto®

know the flow.

S U C C E S S S T O RY | R E I C H H O L D & H O BA S

Reichhold is one of the

world‘s largest suppliers

of unsaturated polyester

resins for composites. Lo-

cated globally, Reichhold’s

four state-of-the-art

technology centres are

dedicated to the research

and development of high-

performance resin systems.

The product development

and improvement is

supported by specialized

analytical and testing

equipment that allows for

the simulation of sever-

al full-scale composites

manufacturing processes.

Development projects

can be completed in

close cooperation with key

customers and suppliers,

providing a short time to

market for new products.

HOBAS is a leading ma-

nufacturer of CC-GRP Pipe

Systems for applications

such as drinking water,

wastewater, hydropower

lines, cooling lines, irriga-

tion and drainage systems.

HOBAS Products are being

installed by a variety of

methods such as open

trench, jacking, microtun-

neling, sliplining and abo-

ve ground in more than

100 countries. Totaling

thousands of kilometers of

pipe, the line would span

the world several times.

The company motto is

“Make things happen”.

Engineering Sustainability: Choice of Unsaturated Polyester Resins for CC-GRP Pipe Systems

Our engineering team decided to use one of the

most powerful software tools for the ambitious pro-

ject: Umberto NXT LCA. Using the same software

enabled them to exchange information easily. Vi-

sualisation, assessment of results, and the efficient

exchange of datasets were the main advantages

of the collaborative process. Calculated input LCA

datasets were exported by Reichhold and the re-

ceived information was subsequently validated by

HOBAS. The incorporation of Umberto NXT LCA in

the R&D departments’ activities thus enabled the

evaluation of products’ environmental impacts and

benefits starting from the very first phases of pro-

duct development.

COLLABORAT IVE TOOL FOR LCA MODELL ING: UMBERTO NXT LCA

The analysis of products’ envi-

ronmental impacts has been gai-

ning attention due to the incre-

asing development of life cycle

assessment (LCA) tools. HOBAS

and Reichhold chose Umberto

for assessing the environmental

footprint of products, establi-

shing an additional dimension

for market and R&D analysis.

CAN ENVIRONMENTALLY FR IENDLY RAW MATER IALS MEET PRODUCT SPEC IF ICAT IONS AND BE COST-EFFECT IVE?

We would like to introduce two personalities with

the burning ambition to change things for the

better: Victor Vladimirov from the department of

Environment and Energy Management at HOBAS

Engineering GmbH, and Marcin Pazdro, Technology

Manager at Reichhold Europe. They are both con-

fident that including environmental assessment in

R&D processes represents a key step when it comes

to the evaluation and improvement of environmen-

tal performance.

In order to identify the critical material and energy

flows which are responsible for environmental im-

pacts, they performed an initial life cycle assessment

(LCA) of a generic CC-GRP pipe and calculated the

Global Warming Potential (GWP, in CO2eq). The

analysis clearly indicated that the unsaturated po-

lyester resin (UPR) was the main factor influencing

the results and that this was the main input to con-

sider in the assessment of ecological alternatives.

TAKING THE F IRST STEP WITH COURAGE AND COMMITMENT

GOAL AND METHOD

The intention was to compare the environmental

impacts of products manufactured with standard

UPR versus UPR containing either recycled PET ma-

terial (rPET-UPR) or bio-sourced material (BIO-UPR).

For a comprehensive picture, HOBAS defined two

cradle-to-gate declared units and one cradle-to-

cradle functional unit. One declared unit was the

base plate of a GRP shaft DN 1000 mm and the

other one a GRP shaft DN 1000 mm. The functional

unit was defined as 1000 meters of standard buried

gravity CC-GRP sewer pipe system, consisting of

pipes DN 400 mm with couplings and shafts DN

1000 mm with a reference service life of 100 years.

System boundaries in the LCA were defined in ac-

cordance with ISO 14040/44 and EN 15804.

Victor Vladimirov and his team examined the „Base

Plate“, „Shaft“, and “Pipe System“ levels. In a series

of very detailed systematic analyses, they checked

and compared a comprehensive list of environmen-

tal indicators such as “net use of fresh water”, “to-

tal renewable and non renewable energy”, “deple-

tion of abiotic resources”, “climate change”, and so

on. In order to get there Marcin Pazdro provided

specific LCI data for all resins which were used in

the calculations.

Results indicate that the choice of BIO-UPR seems to

be relatively complex and can hardly be reduced to

the simple question of e.g. which resin contribute

more or less CO2 emissions. The use of BIO-UPR

can be associated with sustainability discussions

(pros and cons) related to biofuels. However, the

current data provided valuable know-how which

is essential for the further development of bio-ba-

sed but more sustainable products. On the other

hand, UPR resin containing recycled PET material

constitutes an interesting alternative, which may

definitively be a choice from an environmental per-

spective. rPET-UPR has an excellent mechanical and

environmental overall performance. By means of

material recycling, the rPET-UPR ensures that va-

luable resources are conserved and indicators such

as “depletion of abiotic resources” from nature or

“climate change” are improved in comparison to

the standard resin.

LET‘S DO IT TOGETHER!

Sharing knowledge while protecting sensitive data

The benefit of working

with a collaborative tool

such as Umberto is that

different models can be

discussed while ensuring

complete confidentiality

of proprietary datasets.

Data transmitted across

the supply chain can easily

be exported from a com-

plex production model

into a typical life cycle

inventory (LCI).

The inventory contains all

required material flows

for the LCA calculation.

However, it is impossible

to identify the structure

and specific proprietary

data (for example the

resin formula) of the

initial calculation model.

Confidential internal data

thus remains with the

producer.

umberto.de

ifu hamburg . Max-Brauer-Allee 50 . 22765 Hamburg . Germany . fon +49 40 - 480 009-0 . fax +49 40 - 480 009-22 . info@ifu.com . www.ifu.com

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

WHAT OUR PROFESS IONALS SAY ABOUT WORKING WITH UMBERTO

Marcin Pazdro: „In the light of recent environmen-

tal studies, it is becoming more and more obvious

that sustainable developments and products are

not just an option but a necessity for humanity’s

survival. Since most of the environmental aspects

of product sustainability can be assessed by the ap-

plication of LCA methodology, Reichhold decided

to enquire about the know-how and instruments

necessary to perform LCA studies in-house. Upon

a warm recommendation by HOBAS, and having

investigated other available options, the company

decided to purchase Umberto.

After a few years of active usage, we believe that

this has been a very good choice as the software

is very intuitive in use; models build for the pro-

duction of a specific resin can easily be adapted

for other products, and the “LCA phases” option

helps to quickly identify the biggest contributors

to some specific environmental impacts.

The calculated LCI can easily be exported to Micro-

soft Excel and saved in various formats. Afterwards

it can be shared with customers like HOBAS wit-

hout compromises regarding the confidentiality of

the production process or resin formulations. This,

in turn, greatly facilitates the engineering of not

only more sustainable resins but also more sustai-

nable GRP products across the whole value chain.”

Victor Vladimirov: „HOBAS has positioned itself

on the cutting edge of our market sector in terms

of sustainability. All HOBAS factories are certified

according to the international environmental stan-

dard ISO 14001. In addition, we have provided our

clients with valuable information on the carbon

footprint of pipe jacking in dense urban areas and

are also offering carbon-neutral pipes in Australia.

The collaboration with Reichhold and an LCA in

R&D are the next steps on our path to sustaina-

bility. We have been using Umberto for several

years now and are delighted with the flexibility,

support, and business opportunities provided by

this premium LCA tool.”