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"Instead of just giving directions on how to do a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) that will be very complicated without basic knowledge, we wanted to give people a tool that is familiar and easy to use."
~ Hannah Minten, fifth-year Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at RWTH Aachen University, whose dissertation project, the ESTIMATe tool, provides an easy way for non-experts to perform LCAs
Hannah holds both a M.Sc. (Energy Engineering) and a B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering) from RWTH Aachen University. Her LCA research focuses on supporting the transition toward a low-carbon chemical industry. Specifically, her goal is to enhance non-expert accessibility of LCA methods for practitioners from the chemical industry.
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She is also pleased to announce that she recently obtained her fishing license. Now she can officially fish, because “in Germany, of course, you need a permit for everything.”
Can you describe what you do in a very simple way?
I am a university research associate. While I am pursuing different topics, my work is mostly focused on figuring out how green chemicals affect the environment. Historically, we've mainly looked at chemicals made from fossil resources, but with climate change worsening, we need to curb emissions from fossil sources and use different feedstocks for chemicals. One solution is to capture carbon dioxide from the air, and use the captured carbon as a feedstock for chemicals. In my work, I use LCAs to verify that these novel processes decrease our impact on the environment.
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How did you get involved in this research? What drew you to it?
When studying abroad in Montreal, I took a course on tools for sustainable development for engineers and I learned about LCAs. I really liked that topic, so I stuck with it. I like the fact that as an LCA practitioner, I learn a lot about many different processes, and oftentimes directly from experts themselves. I'm very curious, so I really enjoy the variety I see in my work.
I also enjoy the fact that, because of my LCA expertise, I can also give something valuable back to the experts and organizations with whom I work. It eels like an equal exchange.
In the past few years, I have been developing an early stage LCA tool for non experts. This was a collaboration with TotalEnergies who approached us to see if we could help their employees perform quick early stage LCAs for their novel carbon capture utilization chemical processes.
The tool we produced is an excellent one that can be used by people with minimal prior LCA knowledge, so that they can perform assessments and immediately use the environmental insights gleaned for their everyday work.
I actually started working on this project earlier in my graduate career. After initially hearing about this project idea from my advisor, André Bardow, my first reaction was that the name was very clever. It’s called “ESTIMATe” which stands for Early Stage Impact Assessment Tool.
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Why is this LCA tool (ESTIMATe) important? How will it help people?
The earlier that you can do a LCA, the more degrees of freedom you still have about the process. It is much easier to make changes before you have already invested a lot of time and money into establishing a process, product, or plant. By doing LCAs early, you can identify the most climate friendly options from the start, which enables you to save time, money and emissions early on.
Usually people working on developing novel chemical processes are highly skilled experts, but not in LCA. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of LCA practitioners. Instead of just giving directions on how to do a LCA that will be very complicated without basic knowledge, we wanted to give people a tool that is familiar and easy to use.
The urgency of the climate change predicament makes it even more important that people of any background are quickly and easily able to assess their work from the beginning.
So far, we have received some very positive feedback. It’s very easy for people to see how modifying one variable in the equation might impact other elements in the process or system.
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You received the best presentation award at the International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU) conference in 2023. How did you feel when you found out that you received that?
ICCDU was different from other conferences that I had been at because there were very few LCA specialists. I felt like a unicorn at the event since there were so many people in chemistry, and so few people who knew LCAs. The ICCDU audience was really more representative of our target audience, i.e. people who might want to use the ESTIMATe tool.
I remember that I was able to speak to so many people who I admire, so I was already over the moon. In the evening, when they revealed that I won the award, I was completely astonished! I had not expected that distinction! It felt very, very special to me to get this award from the people for whom I had made the ESTIMATe tool. It was very meaningful to be told by the very people for whom you are developing that they like your work!
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Do you have any advice for other students?
My advice for fellow PhD students is to choose a topic that you like and find interesting. Then work on it at least a tiny bit every day. If you're constantly focused on whether or not you achieve a specific milestone by a specific point in time or if you are always worried about how you will do all the work, then it will not happen. You just need to trust yourself and trust that the process will help you arrive at your destination. The little steps will add up eventually, even though it doesn't always feel that way while you are working on it.
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Is there anything else that I should mention?
You should mention that I could not have made the ESTIMATe tool by myself. There were many people who contributed: the academic team who wrote the original project proposal, my TotalEnergies collaborators, my internal advisor, my faculty advisor, student assistants, and others. I'm very happy that I had this team, because, while I a central driver, all of these people played crucial roles.
I also want to say that ESTIMATe is now available on the Global CO2 Initiative website.
Lastly, I will be finishing my Ph.D. this fall and have no fixed plans after that. If anyone is looking for a life cycle assessment specialist, please reach out. I’m very curious to solve new problems!
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Cell Symposia: A circular economy for the chemical sector
in partnership with UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy, Cardiff, Wales, UK
July 22–24, 2024
This Cell Symposia will bring together a diverse range of stakeholders from across the science, engineering, business, and policy sectors with a view to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogue and identify key actions to take now as well as the future research and development priorities necessary to achieve the transformation of the chemical sector for an innovative, circular, and sustainable future.
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