A Process Decision Making Strategy Based on Sustainability Evaluation

Abstract

This paper describes an approach achieving process design based on sustainability evaluation by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The case study focuses on quenching steel products, which was evaluated by comparing laser quenching to conventional furnace quenching based on the proposed approach. We found that the break-even point depends on production volume as one of product features. The proposed approach shows promise as a strategy for decision making in process design.