quantitative reference

[JEREMY]

Dear Forum
I am new to openLCA and would like to have a better understanding of the term 'quantitative reference'.
1. openLCA 1.4 comprehensive user manual, page 30 says that 'quantitative reference' is the 'reference output' of a process. Are these two terms always interchangeable, are they 100% synonymous?
2. I looked in ISO 14044 (2006) and other sources, and found no mention of the term quantitative reference. Is the term quantitative reference unique to openLCA?
3. I would expect that the use of a term including the word 'quantitative' would yield a numerical value, but after creating a New process in openLCA, the Quantitative reference line in the Process window shows the process name, not a numerical value. Am I doing something wrong?
4. Would it be possible to give a concise definition of quantitative reference without referring to reference output?

Clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely / Jeremy

[aciroth]

Hi Jeremy,
thanky for your detailed questions ->
1) quantitative reference is the technical term
2) no, quantitative reference is the term used in various LCA data formats, e.g. ILCD, for the reference flow of the process
3) the quantitative reference is one of the flows of the process, not another process
4) I paste from the ILCd format definition, below.
Hth,
Andreas