日本ゼオライト学会　刊行物 Publication of Japan Zeolite Association

Example of prospective life cycle assessment and design of emerging technologies by seamless analysis from nm to km was introduced with a case study of a mobile thermal energy storage system employing zeolite water vapor adsorption/desorption cycle. The research activities were roughly categorized into (1) nm–mm level,(2) mm–m level, and (3) m–km level. For each level,(1) equilibrium, kinetics, hydrothermal stability, heat transfer, etc. of zeolite were obtained, respectively; (2) validation of the numerical analysis reflecting the information in (1) through small scale demonstration tests was performed, and the validated model was used to predict commercial-scale performance, and various design and operating parameters were optimized to generate inventory data, and (3) lifecycle assessment (LCA) was conducted using the generated inventory data as foreground data for LCA, together with background data. The results show that a change in zeolite type changes the greenhouse gas emissions structure of the system, and that a change in zeolite and a change in equipment design have the same level of impact, demonstrating the merit of allowing researchers at different scales to discuss based on the same lifecycle assessment data.