A schematic method to characterize the human health impact of toxic chemicals is presented. This schematic method uses a streamlined three-tiered hierarchy process which includes intake, toxicity and persistence of a chemical release for its impact characterization. The human health impact of a chemical is represented by its position in a two-dimensional characterization plot, which enables the benchmarking of chemicals to be easily made by comparing the relative positions of the chemicals in the characterization plot. A case study is performed on 12 toxic chemicals commonly used as solvents by the manufacturing industry. The reliability of this schematic method is checked and confirmed by comparing its benchmarked results with that of the conventional Human Toxicity Potential (HTP) method. With an explicit model structure and a visual representation, this schematic method increases the transparency of the human impact assessment and can facilitate decision-making in the material screening and benchmarking of toxic chemicals for implementation of sustainable design and manufacturing strategies

Toxic chemicals used in product design and manufacturing are grave concerns due to their significant impact on human health. Sustainable material selections are needed by industry to reduce the overall impact of toxic chemicals in both design and manufacturing. In this paper, we integrate the human health impact assessment into standard material selection process for developing a sustainable material selection metric for decision support in design and manufacturing. A schematic method is presented for characterizing and benchmarking the human health impact of toxic chemicals. A case study is performed on six toxic chemicals used as solvents in semiconductor manufacturing. Reliability of the schematic benchmarking results is checked and validated by comparing the results with that of conventional Human Toxicity Potential (HTP) method.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is emerging as a promising nanotechnology for manufacturing dielectrics and insulators on microelectronics devices. Its environmental performance has to be characterized at this early development stage to achieve sustainable manufacturing in the future. In this paper, we report our environmental performance characterization studies on ALD technology through material flow analysis and energy flow analysis. The assessed ALD process is for deposition of Al2O3 high-k dielectric films on a 4 inch silicon wafer. The results show that only 50.4% of input Trimethyl Aluminum (TMA) material is turned into Al2O3 film, while the other half is transformed into toxic emissions into the environment. Material usage efficiency of water is only 2.03% in current ALD processes. ALD is also featured with intensive energy consumption. For the studied ALD process, a total of 4.09 MJ energy is consumed for deposition of a 30 nm Al2O3 film, with averaged energy consumption at 13.6 KJ per cycle.

The automotive industry consumes a significant amount of energy in the manufacturing stage and generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions and a variety of air pollutants. With more than two thirds of these emissions generated from purchased electricity, an effective way to reduce the environmental footprint of automotive manufacturing is to use alternative energies to partially supply the power needs for the current manufacturing processes. This paper assesses three alternative energy technologies, including solar photovoltaic, wind, and fuel cells, as potential power sources to reduce facility emissions from automotive manufacturing. In our assessment, we have the used the energy supply based on in Detroit, MI, region in the United States, where much of the U.S. automotive manufacturing industry is centered. Cost of ownership and environmental savings from the three technologies are evaluated and compared with the local electricity supply. The analysis results favor wind over solar and fuel cells in terms of both ownership cost and environmental savings.

Toxic chemicals used in product design and manufacturing are grave concerns due to their toxic impact on human health. Implementing sustainable material selection strategies on toxic chemicals can substantially improve the sustainability of products in both design and manufacturing processes. In this paper, a schematic method is presented for characterizing and benchmarking the human health impact of toxic chemicals, as a visual aid to facilitate decision-making in the material selection process for sustainable design and manufacturing. In this schematic method, the human health impact of a toxic chemical is characterized by two critical parameters: daily exposure risk R and environmental persistence T. The human health impact of a toxic chemical is represented by its position in the R−T two-dimensional plot, which enables the screening and benchmarking of toxic chemicals to be easily made through comparing their relative positions in the characterization plot. A case study is performed on six toxic chemicals commonly used as solvents for cleaning and degreasing in product development and manufacturing.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a promising nanotechnology for wide applications in microelectronics manufacturing due to its ability to control layer growth at atomic scale. Sustainability of ALD technology needs to be quantitatively investigated in this early development stage to improve its economic and environmental performance. In this paper, we present an integrated sustainability analysis of ALD technology through material and energy flow analyses. The study is performed on the ALD of Al2O3 high- dielectric film through trimethylaluminum and water binary reactions. The precursor utilizations, methane emissions, and nanowaste generations from the ALD process are all quantitatively studied. Energy flow analysis demonstrates that the ALD process energy consumption is mainly determined by the ALD cycle time rather than the process temperature. Scale-up performance of the ALD technology is also studied for both emission generations and energy consumptions. Strategies and methods for improving the sustainability performance of the ALD technology are suggested based on the analysis.

Existing Life Cycle Assessment does not take into account the relative temporal differences in inventory data. The lack of such considerations could lead to an inaccurate analysis of impacts and to incorrect conclusions in the comparative studies of products with comparable inventories but different life cycle times. In this paper, we report on our research of the investigation of the embedded temporal differences in LCA, and propose a simple method to calculate the temporal space of the subject system for life cycle assessment. A case study is performed on VW Golf A4 Car based on previous LCA results. The temporal space of the vehicle, as estimated, is found to be approximately 11.04 years. We establish the emission pattern of CO2 along the time scale to demonstrate the effects of product life cycle durations on the LCA modeling and the inventory results. The life cycle inventory flow is discounted using a traditional economic discounting method with two discounting rates, 5% and 10%, respectively. The discounted results indicate that significant differences could be achieved on the life cycle inventory results.

This study is an evaluation of the use and supply of compressed air, which is one of the most expensive energy sources in manufacturing, at Ford Motor Company’s Livonia (Mich.) Transmission Plant. The aim of the study is to make recommendations to improve environmental and economic efficiency in future facilities. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of three compressed air supply patterns—plant air, point of use (POU), and local generation—as alternatives for future compressed air usage. Environmental Value systems(EnVS) tools are employed to analyze the economic and environmental performance of the three alternative supply patterns by using cost of ownership and environmental impact matrices. The results favor local generation over the other two alternatives in terms of economic and environmental considerations.