Comparison of the LCIA Methods Used for the Evaluation of Chemicals

Within the four phases of the Life Cycle Assessment, the impact assessment phase involves the evaluation of the environmental impacts of a product/process, object of the study, through its entire lifecycle. In order to categorize and characterize the life cycle impact of the flows to and from environment, several methods have been developed. This variety complicates the comparability of different LCA studies. A paragraph of the chapter is devoted to the USEtox, as recommend method to characterize the toxic impact categories. The purposes of this chapter are to review the different impact assessment methods used in the LCA of chemicals, in order to show that LCIA methods are most appropriate to the environmental assessment of chemical products and to identify the main categories of environmental impact assessed using these methods.