Water Footprinting in the Manufacturing Industries -Methods, Tool and Optimization Strategies

将可持续制造的目标落实到日常工程实践中是具有挑战性的--特别是在水方面。今天，水的使用被简单地报告为许多其他指标中的一个，优化策略通常旨在通过提高效率、循环系统或废水净化来减少水需求。尽管这些措施是相关的，但一家公司的直接用水量只占其总用水量的一小部分。材料生产或能源生产中的用水量往往要高得多。此外，在中欧水资源丰富的地区，直接用水造成的影响通常很小。相比之下，供应链中的间接用水如果发生在缺水地区，如智利的铜矿开采或澳大利亚的铝土矿开采，往往会造成更严重的影响。因此，应在产品生命周期中评估用水量和由此产生的影响，优化战略应侧重于全球供应链上的局部影响，而不是公司的直接用水量。在审查和讨论了30多种水足迹方法之后，申请人进行了第一批工业产品系统和制造业的水足迹研究。根据这些经验，确定了方法学上的挑战，并开发了一种新的水足迹方法--水核算和脆弱性评估(WAVE)模型。本研究项目旨在从方法论和实践的角度加强制造业的水足迹概念。从方法的角度来看，将通过考虑河流流域水力状况的季节性变化和考虑大气水分循环的影响来改进对当地可用水的模拟。在这些改进的缺水模型的基础上，将开发影响评估方法，评估用水对人类健康和生态系统的影响。从实践的角度来看，缺乏区域化的库存数据是水足迹在制造业中应用的主要障碍。因此，将与库存数据库供应商合作制定区域化方法，并为与制造有关的广泛材料和工艺制定区域化的水库存。在水足迹工具中，这一区域化的水库存数据库将与影响评估发展相结合。该工具将在几个工业案例研究中进行测试。这一研究项目和由此产生的水足迹工具将使从业者能够量化制造过程和相应供应链中的用水量。通过评估水消耗造成的影响，可以制定有效的优化战略，以便可持续地利用制造业中的淡水资源。

Implementing the goal of sustainable manufacturing into daily engineering practice is challenging - especially with regard to water. Today, water use is simply reported as one indicator among many others and optimization strategies usually aim at reducing water needs due to increased efficiency, cycling systems, or waste water purification. Even though these measures are relevant, the direct water consumption of a company is only a small fraction of its total water footprint. Water consumption in the production of materials or in the generation of energy is often much higher. Moreover, impacts resulting from direct water consumption in water-abundant regions in Central Europe are usually low. In contrast, the indirect water consumption in the supply chain often causes more severe impacts if it occurs in water scarce regions, e.g. mining of copper ore in Chile or bauxite in Australia. Hence, water consumption and resulting impacts should be assessed along a product life cycle and optimization strategies should focus on local impacts along global supply chains rather than on the direct consumption of a company. After reviewing and discussing more than 30 water footprint approaches, the applicant conducted the first water footprint studies in industrial product systems and manufacturing. Based on these experiences methodological challenges have been identified and a novel water footprint method - the water accounting and vulnerability evaluation (WAVE) model has been developed. This research project aims at enhancing the water footprint concept for manufacturing from a methodological and practical point of view. From a methodological perspective, the modelling of local water availability will be refined by considering seasonal variation in the hydraulic situation of river basins and by taking into account atmospheric moisture recycling effects. Based on these improved water scarcity models, impact assessment methods will be developed which evaluate consequences of water consumption on human health and ecosystems. From a practical perspective, the lack of regionalized inventory data is the main hindrance regarding the application of water footprinting in manufacturing. Therefore, a regionalization methodology will be developed in cooperation with an inventory database provider and regionalized water inventories will be developed for a broad set of materials and processes relevant for manufacturing. In a water footprint tool, this regionalized water inventory database will be combined with the impact assessment developments. The tool will be tested in several industrial case studies. This research project and the resulting water footprint tool will enable practitioners to quantify water consumption in manufacturing processes and the corresponding supply chains. By assessing impacts resulting from water consumption, efficient optimization strategies can be developed allowing for a sustainable use of freshwater resources in manufacturing.