著者

山口 庸子 清井 えり子 永山 升三

出版者

日本LCA学会

雑誌

日本LCA学会誌 (ISSN:18802761)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.6, no.3, pp.209-216, 2010 (Released:2012-08-24)

参考文献数

17

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Objective. The most common professional cleaning services available today are professional dry cleaning, laundry, and wet cleaning. Many of the organic solvents used in dry-cleaning have been identified as factors contributing to global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, and groundwater contamination, among other problems, and are subject to legal restrictions and controls. Dry-cleaning remains an essential process, since it causes less damage to clothing than water-based cleaning. Requirements for clothing cleaning have grown increasingly restrictive as exemplified by the launch of the Carbon Footprint Pilot Project. Given these circumstances, this study seeks to estimate greenhouse gas emissions (in terms of GWP100) based on LCI analysis of each step of the cleaning processes and discusses methods for reducing emissions. Cleaning is an essential aspect of the usage stage of clothing and its life cycle. To help create a system for establishing carbon footprints for clothing products, this study also examines a wide range of public information sources related to CO2 emissions, based on cleaning site data collected in fiscal 2009.Results and Discussion. In the dry cleaning process, the electric power consumed by the various activities at cleaning agencies, the steam required for solvent recovery, steam required for pressing, and packing materials, including hangers and carrier bags, contribute significantly to overall CO2 emissions. At 0.369 kg-CO2eq per clothing, the CO2 emissions associated with the steam required for tetrachloroethylene recovery accounts for the highest fraction of CO2 generated. The results suggest CO2 emissions generated by tetrachloroethylene which used as the dry-cleaning solvent exceed those of petroleum-derived solvents. The results also show CO2 emissions from solvents can be suppressed by reducing the solvent consumption rate to 4% or 20%, which also reduces the generation of photochemical oxidants. In laundry processes, steam for pressing and drying in the finishing processes contributes significantly to CO2 emissions, followed by heating boilers, detergents, and cardboard use.Conclusions. The CO2 emissions generated by the dry cleaning process depend significantly on the types of solvents used. The steam required for solvent recovery contributes a large portion of these emissions, followed by the steam used in finishing processes. Improving boiler efficiency is a key factor in reducing CO2 emissions in both dry cleaning and ordinary laundry processes. This paper also proposes a flexible method for estimating cleaning-related CO2 emissions per clothing, based on a conversion proportional to weight, by accounting for differences in washing methods, finishing processes, and solvents.