Life Cycle Assessment as an eco-design tool for thermoelectric materials and systems

Main Presenter:    Olivier Talon 

Co-Authors:   Geoffrey Roy     Frédéric Lani                                          

Industrial processes generate significant amounts of waste heat that often remains unexploited. Thermoelectric technologies offer a promising solution by converting this thermal energy directly into electricity [1]. This study presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of an innovative electricity generation system based on iron-based Heusler thermoelectric materials designed to recover industrial waste heat [2,3].
The study was conducted in two phases. First, a detailed life cycle inventory was established to model the production phase of the energy generation system. Environmental impacts were calculated using specialized LCA software, enabling the identification of main impact contributors during system manufacturing. This hotspot analysis revealed key opportunities for eco-design improvements and guided potential optimization strategies for reducing the environmental footprint of the production phase.
In the second phase, application scenarios were modeled to assess the complete environmental profile of the system. These scenarios incorporated electricity generation during the operational phase and various end-of-life treatment hypotheses. The environmental footprint of electricity produced by the thermoelectric system was then benchmarked against two reference cases: electricity from the Belgian grid mix and electricity from renewable energy sources.
Results indicate that, under current development and modeling assumptions, the thermoelectric system demonstrates significant environmental potential. The electricity generated shows a favorable environmental profile compared to the Belgian electricity mix. Furthermore, for most environmental indicators – including climate change – the system’s performance compares favorably with electricity from renewable sources. An important finding concerns the incorporation of tantalum into the iron-based thermoelectric alloy. While tantalum is classified as a critical raw material with associated environmental burdens during production, its addition significantly enhances the thermoelectric properties of the alloy [4], further improving system efficiency. The LCA demonstrates that these additional performance gains during the operational phase largely outweigh the environmental impact induced by incorporating this critical material, illustrating how strategic material optimization can enhance
both technical and environmental outcomes.
These findings suggest that iron-based thermoelectric systems for waste heat recovery could contribute meaningfully to more sustainable electricity production.

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