Seminar Hall, Ground Floor, Vanvihar Guest house, IIT Bombay.
Introduction to the course:
With decarbonization of the oil and gas sector being targeted, systematic assessment of the carbon emissions as well as the other environmental impacts has become essential. Such an assessment is also necessary for the novel technologies and solutions that are being explored to achieve decarbonization. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and Carbon Footprint (CF) are increasingly being used for this purpose.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) takes a holistic approach of quantifying the environmental impacts across various stages of the product/process life cycle. In addition to measuring impacts across a number of categories such as global warming potential, water depletion, and acidification potential, it identifies emission hotspots, indirect environmental impacts, and thereby provides very valuable insights to process development and operations community. Carbon Footprint also takes a holistic view and quantified only the greenhouse gas emissions across various scopes. Regulatory agencies as well as stakeholders are increasingly asking for detailed LCA/CF studies of existing as well as novel products and processes. Some of the novel processes are emerging and are yet to be commercialized, which makes it challenging to perform LCA or CF calculations. It is, therefore, imperative for industry professionals and particularly sustainability practitioners to have a good understanding of these methodologies, their advantages, and limitations.
This course will provide foundational training to industry professionals on the concept of LCA and CF. Starting with basics of LCA concept, the course will cover different steps required to complete an LCA study. Concepts will be demonstrated using practical problems. Hands-on sessions using an open source software will be conducted. GHG protocol that is used to perform CF calculations will be discussed. Case studies relevant for the oil and gas industry will be discussed.
The course will be conducted in an interactive manner and will encourage discussions on aspects relevant to refineries as well as oil and gas sector in general.
BROAD OBJECTIVES:
- Explain the need for life cycle assessment and carbon footprint of a product or process
- Discuss the process of conducting an LCA study
- Identify challenges and pitfalls in completing an LCA study and analysing results
- Provide hands-on training on an open-source software
- Discuss GHG protocol for carbon footprint calculations with examples
- Explain case studies relevant to oil and gas sector and those for emerging processes
By the end of this course participants will be able to:
- Understand the process of performing LCA and carbon footprint
- Review and critique published LCA and CF studies
- Develop inventory data for performing LCA/CF of refinery processes
- Develop small scale LCA models using open-source software
Targeted Audience/ Pre-requisite:
The course will be highly relevant for industry professionals involved in sustainability related work and/or part of sustainability divisions, as well as those expected to work on life cycle assessment projects in the future. Engineering or science background is required to completely understand the concepts covered in the course. Other than that, there are no specific pre-requisites.
Course Schedule:
Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint: Concept and Applications in the Oil and Gas Sector
Registration for External Users (Other than Oil & Gas PSUs). New users need to register to the IIT Bombay CEP portal to apply for the training course.