EcoSpold 2.1 import - use version 2.2 instead!

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aciroth
Posts: 750
Joined: 09 May 2010 23:28

EcoSpold 2.1 import - use version 2.2 instead!

Post by aciroth » 23 Feb 2013 17:33

Dear all,

thanks to an exchange with Salvatore Mellino from Naples University we found that the ecoinvent CD-ROM with ecoinvent data contains data sets that are not following the EcoSpold 1 specification and, when imported into openLCA, lead to incorrect results.

For example, the process "steel converter, low-alloyed, at plant" contains four times output group 0:
2013-02-23 15_54_38-AW_ steel process  - Nachricht (HTML).png
2013-02-23 15_54_38-AW_ steel process - Nachricht (HTML).png (146.92 KiB) Viewed 7003 times
This contradicts the EcoSpold format specification I believe:
2013-02-23 16_03_14-EcoSpold01 Schema Documentation.png
2013-02-23 16_03_14-EcoSpold01 Schema Documentation.png (11.48 KiB) Viewed 7003 times
(note the "Products of multioutput processes are classified as allocated by-products (2)." Four reference outputs of a process seem to me to indicate multiple outputs, therefore, the waste should probably be better classified as 2).

In ecoinvent 2.2. and also in exports from SimaPro (version 7.3.3, previous versions may be different) there is only one reference outputgroup 0 per process data set; the same steel process there looks as follows (ecoinvent 2.2 data):
2013-02-23 16_13_05-C__Users_ac_Documents_Arbeit_gdtc_proj_OS_Format_Formate_EcoSpold_ecoinvent2.2_P.png
2013-02-23 16_13_05-C__Users_ac_Documents_Arbeit_gdtc_proj_OS_Format_Formate_EcoSpold_ecoinvent2.2_P.png (22.75 KiB) Viewed 7003 times
(note that there is only once an outputgroup 0).

Now, when openLCA imports the data set in the ecoinvent 2.1 version, it selects not the steel but a disposal as reference product for this process. This happens because the disposal appears earlier in the process exchanges list. This is of course not wanted. Version 2.2 is imported correctly.

So, as conclusion, DO NOT import ecoinvent 2.1 data in openLCA, but use the 2.2 version instead, available from us or, if you already have an ecoinvent licence, from the ecoinvent centre.

Best wishes,
Andreas

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