A Graphical Approach for the Planning and Design of a Low Carbon Product

CO2 is being emitted throughout a product’s life cycle, i.e., during the material acquisition and extraction, materials transportation, product manufacturing and disposal. Strategies such as product path selection, supply chain planning, product reuse and recycling, fuel switching, conversion of waste to energy and carbon sequestration can contribute to carbon emission minimisation at the different stages of a product’s life cycle. A Carbon Supply Chain Product Curve (CSCPC), and an extended Systematic Hierarchical Approach for Resilient Process Screening (SHARPS) are proposed to evaluate a product CO2 emission throughout its supply chain and to select the suitable, and economically viable CO2 minimisation strategies. The proposed method has been tested to plan and design a low carbon palm cooking oil. Palm oil milling is determined as the major emission contributor in the palm cooking oil life cycle. High CO2 reduction technologies require more investment and are less profitable. By using the CSCPC-SHARPS tool, CO2 reduction can be a cost-effective, and result in low carbon emission. Application of the approach on a case study shows a potential reduction of 70.8 % carbon emissions as compared to the conventional palm oil supply chain carbon emission.