2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(586d) Petrochemicals in Focus: Insights from the Ecoinvent Life Cycle Inventory Database

Authors

Elina Anagnostou, Ecoinvent
Daria Dellenbach, Ecoinvent
Carl Vadenbo, Ecoinvent
Petrochemicals are a cornerstone of the chemical industry, with their downstream products also supporting sectors such as batteries, electronics, automotive, and construction. Hence, accurate and regional life cycle inventory (LCI) data for petrochemicals enables precise life cycle assessments (LCAs) for a diverse set of industries. This work highlights the petrochemical sector data in the ecoinvent database, a key resource for global sustainability assessments.

Leveraging the widely used ecoinvent data, our analysis explores the environmental impact of petrochemicals across technologies, feedstocks, and regions—offering valuable insights through LCA. For example, the regional Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the fossil-based methanol consumption mix can differ by up to 5 times, depending on the raw material, production technology, and location. Other examples include ethylene and propylene from coal- and methanol-to-olefins processes or regional steam cracking operations. Finally, we provide an outlook on the evolution of petrochemical sector LCI data, emphasizing ongoing initiatives in ecoinvent and anticipated bottlenecks based on insights from an established database.