Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Impact Assessment Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eiar A cradle-to-gate based life cycle impact assessment comparing the KBF w EFB hybrid reinforced poly hydroxybutyrate biocomposite and common petroleum-based composites as building materials Seyed Meysam Khoshnava a, ⁎ , Raheleh Rostami b, ⁎ , Mohammad Ismail c , Abdul Razak Rahmat d a Faculty of Civil Engineering, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran b Department of Architecture, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran c Faculty of Civil Engineering (FKA), Universiti Teknologi of Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia d Polymer Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi of Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Biocomposite Life cycle assessment (LCA) Environmental impact Human health impact SimaPro software The ReCiPe method ABSTRACT Aligning the sustainability in construction process can be achieved through material selection process with low impact on environment and human health. Today, biocomposite materials are investigated and developed to replace with none, and less eco-friendly materials used in the construction industry leading to emergence of next generation of sustainable and green building materials. This paper aims to develop a model of fully hybrid bio- based biocomposite based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and comparing it with fully petroleum-based com- posite, which are common conventional building materials. The methodology framework of this research is determined based on ISO 14040 and 14044. Also, the ReCiPe as the common method in SimaPro software is chosen for appraising and comparing LC impact assessment (LCIA). This research highlights the negative effect of these kinds of building materials with providing single scores coming from three gauges including Human Health, Ecosystems and resources. It is observed that substituting the biocomposite with the fully petroleum- based composite has led to a decline of about 30% in single score outcome. The significance of this research is related to important judgement information to policy makers and the prospective manufacturers in the com- mercialization phase of this new biocomposites as sustainable and green building materials. 1. Introduction The construction industry consumes the astonishing amount of materials, most of which derive from non-renewable resources or re- sources that require considerable time to be renewed (Pheng Low et al., 2009). On the other hand, the use of materials during the life cycle of a building would be associated with various environmental effects like: harmful emissions (CO 2 ), burdening weight initiated by excavating, extraction and waste dumping. The volume of construction and de- molition material debris has been dramatically increased, which is composed of 30–50% wood, drywall and plastic (Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2003; Sandler, 2003). These materials are generally recalcitrant in land-fills being potential to substitute by bio- composite materials that can be more quickly biodegraded. In 2015, Cordelia Sealy in Materials Today published an article “How green are cellulose-reinforced composites?”. This article emphasized the use of cellulose fibres as reinforcement in biocomposites to provide a sustainable and renewable alternative to petroleum-based plastics (Sealy, 2015). Biocomposite materials being studied for use in con- struction submissions with the aim of mitigating the negative en- vironmental and human health impacts of construction materials (Christian and Billington, 2009). Biocomposites and other green ma- terials eliminate non-renewable waste, reduce raw material usage, and cut fossil-fuel consumption (Sandler, 2003). In compare to biocomposites, polymeric composite products as conventional building materials are important sources of indoor che- mical emissions (Ayrilmis et al., 2016) which would influence the en- vironment and health of users. The current paper deal to improve the understanding of the hazardous of petroleum-based composites which are pose to public health and the environment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) considered as pragmatic decision making in progress sustain- ability in the construction industry to adjust nowadays the growing worry of environment and resource exhaustion as well as public health (Bond et al., 2013; Morrison-Saunders et al., 2015). The LCA is a https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2018.02.002 Received 26 February 2017; Received in revised form 17 January 2018; Accepted 12 February 2018 ⁎ Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: meysamkhoshnava@gmail.com (S.M. Khoshnava), raheleh.rostami@iausari.ac.ir (R. Rostami), mohammad@utm.my (M. Ismail), k-razak@cheme.utm.my (A.R. Rahmat). Environmental Impact Assessment Review 70 (2018) 11–21 0195-9255/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T