5. An Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment

An introduction to the history of life cycle assessment (LCA) is provided as a segue into a more detailed presentation of the guidelines and principles of LCA. The term “life cycle” is defined and illustrated by means of a figure which is used to describe various system boundaries that a typical LCA can evaluate. Discussion then shifts to the four stages of the LCA process identified in the international standards for conducting a life cycle analysis. These principles are connected with the principles of green chemistry in order to highlight common goals related to both fields. The theoretical portion ends with a discussion of the virtues and limitations inherent in the currently accepted methodology. This section covers the notion of “burden shifting” as well as the complexity and arbitrary nature of several components of the LCA process. The use of software packages to simplify LCA is described in the context of an approach developed at GlaxoSmithKline known as Fast Life Cycle Assessment of Synthetic Chemistry (FLASC^TM). The advantages of this software are explored by revisiting the synthesis of 7-aminocephalosporanic acid. The chapter concludes with a novel approach to teaching LCA in the context of green metrics to upper-level undergraduate students.