How can life cycle assessment foster environmentally sound fuel cell production and use? Amalia Zucaro a , Gabriella Fiorentino a , Alessandra Zamagni b , Silvia Bargigli a , Paolo Masoni b , Angelo Moreno c , Sergio Ulgiati a, * a Department of Sciences for the Environment, Parthenope University of Naples, Napoli, Italy b LCA & Ecodesign Laboratory, ENEA, Bologna, Italy c Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Project, ENEAeCR Casaccia, Rome, Italy article info Article history: Received 28 March 2012 Received in revised form 1 July 2012 Accepted 10 September 2012 Available online 9 October 2012 Keywords: Life cycle assessment Molten carbonate fuel cells Impact assessment abstract Successful market penetration of Fuel Cell (FC) technologies requires increased research and technological efforts towards improved efficiency, durability, costs and environmental performance according to accepted standards. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can help understand to what extent FCs are environmentally sound, to what extent they can be improved and what steps and components require attention. A guidance manual for LCA application to FC technologies, processes and systems, compliant with the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD), was developed within the European Union-funded Fuel Cell-Hydrogen Guide (FC-Hy Guide) Consortium. The purpose was to provide entre- preneurs, consultants and experts with a specific guidance tool for use in policy context and decision-making. This paper presents the application of the FC-Hy Guide scheme to Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC), with focus on the following aspects: (1) data quality; (2) information needed; (3) background and foreground data; (4) FC stack and balance of system; (5) improvement potential; (6) sensitivity of results and data uncertainty. Copyright ª 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction and state of the art In times of depletion of fossil resources and increasing envi- ronmental concerns, focus needs to be placed on cleaner carriers (hydrogen) and more efficient conversion devices (Fuel Cells). Technology assessment, standardization and communication are intertwined tasks to which researchers, entrepreneurs, consultants and policy makers are committed and that require collaboration, planning and broad views. The task is multi-fold: achieving higher performance (technolog- ical improvement), assessing benefits and costs (evaluation procedures), standardizing procedures (Product Category Rules, PCRs) and providing reliable information (Environ- mental Product Declarations, EPDs). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) proved to be a valuable method to accomplish these diverse and interlinked tasks. Several LCAs of fuel cells and hydrogen production and use were published in the last decade, addressing a large number of issues and paving the way to further development and market penetration. 1.1. FC and BoP production Pehnt [1] investigated the production process of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC) stacks, for use in a vehicle (fuelled * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 081 5476666. E-mail address: sergio.ulgiati@uniparthenope.it (S. Ulgiati). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy 38 (2013) 453 e468 0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.09.066