Wood and Other Renewable Resources Medium Density Fibreboard 143 © 2007 ecomed publishers (Verlagsgruppe Hüthig Jehle Rehm GmbH), D-86899 Landsberg and Tokyo • Mumbai • Seoul • Melbourne • Paris Int J LCA 12 12 12 12 12 (3) 143 – 150 (2007) Wood and Other Renewable Resources (Subject Editor: Jörg Schweinle) Life Cycle Inventory of Medium Density Fibreboard Beatriz Rivela, Mª Teresa Moreira and Gumersindo Feijoo* Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 - Santiago de Compostela, Spain * Corresponding author (eqfeijoo@lugo.usc.es) Conclusions. With the final aim of creating a database of wood board manufacture, this work was focused in the identification and characterisation of one of the most important wood-based products: Medium Density Fibreboard. Special attention has been paid in the inventory analysis stage of the MDF industry. The results of the sensitive analysis showed a significant influence of both the final transport of the product and the electricity genera- tion profile. Thus, the location of MDF process is of paramount importance, as both aspects have considerable site-dependence. Recommendations and Perspectives. Research continues to be conducted to identify the environmental burdens associated to the materials of extended use. In this sense, future work can be focused on the comparison of different materials for specific applications. Keywords: Chipboard manufacture; life cycle assessment (LCA); life cycle inventory (LCI); medium density fibreboard (MDF); wood-based panels DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.12.290 Please cite this paper as: Rivela B, Moreira MT, Feijoo G (2007): Life Cycle Inventory of Medium Density Fibreboard. Int J LCA 12 (3) 143–150 Abstract Goal, Scope and Background. Wood is the most important re- newable material. The management of wood appears to be a key action to optimise the use of resources and to reduce the environmental impact associated with mankind's activities. Wood-based products must be analysed considering the two- fold nature of wood, commonly used as a renewable material or regenerative fuel. Relevant, up-to-date environmental data are needed to allow the analysis of wood-based products. The main focus of this study is to provide comprehensive data of one key wood board industry such as the Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). Moreover, the influence of factors with strong geographical dependence, such as the electricity profile and final transport of the product, is analysed. In this work, International Organization for Standardization standards (ISO 14040-43) and Ecoindicator 99 methodology have been considered to quantify the potential environmental impact associated to the system under study. Three factories, considered representative of the 'state of art', were selected to study the process in detail: two Spanish factories and a Chilean one, with a process production of around 150,000 m 3 per year. The system boundaries included all the activities taking place into the factory as well as the activities linked to the production of the main chemicals used in the process, energy inputs and transport. All the data related to the inputs and outputs of the process were obtained by on-site measurements during a one- year period. A sensitive analysis was carried out taking into ac- count the influence of the final transport of the product and the dependence on the electricity generation profile. Life Cycle Inventory Analysis. LCI methodology has been used for the quantification of the impacts of the MDF manufacture. The process chain can be subdivided in three main subsystems: wood preparation, board shaping and board finishing. The fi- nal transport of the product was studied as a different subsystem, considering scenarios from local to transoceanic distribution and three scenarios of electricity generation profile were assessed. The system was characterised with Ecoindicator 99 methodol- ogy (hierarchic version) in order to identify the 'hot spots'. Dam- age to Human Health, Ecosystem Quality and Resources are mainly produced by the subsystem of Wood Preparation (91.1%, 94.8% and 94.1%, respectively). The contribution of the sub- system of Board Finishing is considerably lower, but also sig- nificant, standing for the 5.8% of the damage to HH and 5.5% of the damage to Resources. Introduction Wood is the most important, renewable material and regen- erative fuel [1]. As a material, wood is one of the resources most widely used for its remarkable properties, i.e. high strength, low specific weight, good insulation properties, avail- ability, etc. [2]. Due to a broad of potential applications, it is often in competition with other materials such as concrete, steel or plastics [3–4]. However, this material is not only used as raw material for manufacture of different tools. Its use as biomass fuel accounts for 14% of the worldwide energy consumption and demand continues to increase for the use of biomass for energy, partly driven by the targets to fulfil national commitments under the Kyoto Protocol [5–6]. The wood panels market in the Economic Commission for Europe region fared better than other primary sectors, as measured by the largest increases in consumption coupled with higher prices [5]. The main breakdown of wood-based panels is presented in Fig. 1. The main panels in Europe are particleboard, which figures for approximately 65% of the total panel production and Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF), which accounts for 20%. The MDF industry has continued its solid growth for the last ten years in the 19 countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), with an MDF consumption of 8.7 million cubic metres re- ported in 2003, as well as 2.3 million cubic metres for other Europe regions (22 countries) [5]. MDF consumption in the United States has also been increasing during last years, ris- ing to 4.3 million cubic metres in 2004 [5].