Life Cycle Inventory

Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures ....................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5 Scope and System Boundary .................................................................................................. 5 Life Cycle Inventory ............................................................................................................... 6 Soy Farming and Land Conversion ..................................................................................................................... 7 Soybean Oil Processing ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Crude Oil Extraction and Process Impacts .......................................................................................................... 9 Polyol Process .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Foaming Process .............................................................................................................................................. 11 End of Use Recycling ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Life Cycle Impact Assessment .............................................................................................. 12 Greenhouse Gases ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Eutrophication ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Acidification .................................................................................................................................................... 15 Energy Resources............................................................................................................................................. 15 Life Cycle Economic Analysis ................................................................................................ 17 Sensitivity Analysis .............................................................................................................. 17 Soy Farming Model .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Soy Polyol Modeling ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Key Impact Drivers .............................................................................................................. 21 Conclusions & Recommendations ........................................................................................ 22 Appendix A: Calculation of Soy Polyol Inputs ....................................................................... 23 Appendix B: Additional SimaPro Generated Figures ............................................................. 25 Appendix C: Sensitivity Analysis Values and Calculations ..................................................... 27 Appendix D: References ....................................................................................................... 28 2 | P a g e List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Fertilizer Inputs in SimaPro Model ................................................................................................................... 7 Table 2: Energy Inputs in SimaPro Model ...................................................................................................................... 7 Table 3: Land Transformation Classifications in SimaPro .............................................................................................. 8 Table 4: SimaPro Model Allocations .............................................................................................................................. 9 Table 5: Polyol Production Feedstock Inputs for 1kg of Polyol ................................................................................... 11 Table 6: SimaPro modeling for Soy Polyol Glycerine ................................................................................................... 20 Table 7: Sensitivity analysis for GHG ........................................................................................................................... 27 Table 8: Sensitivity analysis for eutrophication ........................................................................................................... 27 Figure 1: Overall System Boundary................................................................................................................................ 5 Figure 2: System Boundary: Polyurethane Foam .......................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3: System Boundary: Bio-hybrid Foam ............................................................................................................... 6 Figure 4: Inputs to petrochemical polyol production ................................................................................................. 10 Figure 5: Dow Chemical’s inputs to soy polyol production ......................................................................................... 11 Figure 6: Glycolysis process during chemical recycling ............................................................................................... 12 Figure 7: pPU Foam – Network Process....................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 8: 20% Bio-hybrid Foam, US ............................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 9: 20% Bio-hybrid Foam, Brazil ......................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 10: Comparison of Impact Categories, Characterization .................................................................................. 14 Figure 11: Comparison of Impact Categories, Normalization ...................................................................................... 14 Figure 12: Greenhouse impacts by process ................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 13: Eutrophication impacts by process ............................................................................................................. 16 Figure 14: Acidification impacts by process................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 15: Energy resources impact by process .......................................................................................................... 16 Figure 17: Sensitivity analysis of greenhouse gas emissions ....................................................................................... 18 Figure 18: Sensitivity analysis of eutrophication impact ............................................................................................. 18 Figure 19: Impact of soy farming model on greenhouse gas emissions of polyols ..................................................... 19 Figure 20: Raw material unit ratios for petroleum-based polyol (PlasticsEurope) and soy-based polyol (NREL) ....... 20 Figure 21: Comparison of impact categories, Characterization .................................................................................. 21 Figure 22: Comparison of Products by Single Score .................................................................................................... 25 Figure 23: Carcinogen impacts by process contribution ............................................................................................. 25 Figure 24: Ozone impact by process contribution ....................................................................................................... 26 3 | P a g e Abstract New furniture products often source more renewable materials for manufacturing, promising a new “sustainable” lifestyle without change in lifestyle. Such products claim to be sustainable, but the truth is often more nuanced. The Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC) commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts between petroleum-based flexible polyurethane (PU) foam and soy based bio-hybrid foam for use in furniture manufacturing. Sustainability claims for soy-based polyols, one ingredient in PU foams, are supported by existing LCAs comparing soy- and polyurethane-based chemicals. Commissioned by agriculture and chemical giants Cargill and Dow Chemical, these reports have several classified sections, raising questions of bias. Furthermore, the LCAs do not consider the impact of the soy-based polyols on the entire PU foam product. The intent of this LCA is to provide an independent investigation into the claims made by bio-hybrid foam manufacturers. An evaluation was produced

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