GRAVE-TO-GATE LCA OF POROUS MATERIALS MADE FROM BLACK LIQUOR: COMPARISON OF TWO SCENARIOS INCLUDING VEGETABLE OIL OR PETROCHEMICAL

The Kraft black liquor is an aqueous solution allowing to prepare oil-in-water emulsions with a hydrophilic surfactant. Emulsion-templated porous monoliths based on castor oil-in-black liquor and on dichloroethane-in-black liquor emulsions were obtained by using two different techniques including recycling phases. In both cases the inputs and the outputs were collected in order to conduct a grave-to-gate life cycle assessment at laboratory scale. The early results showed that using a vegetable oil leads to a low potential impact on climate change but is less advantageous than using a petrochemical in most other environmental indicators studied.