Limitations of current tools for modeling reversibility
Reversibility of industrial and agro-industrial processes: principles, diagnostics and applications

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool used to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with a product or process. It is based on sequential modeling of material and energy flows, from extraction through end-of-life. However, LCA does not directly represent a system’s reversibility, as it does not measure a material’s ability to return to a functional state once it has been transformed or combined with other materials.

Several structural limitations account for this situation.

• Lack of explicit representation of material purity

  LCA generally distinguishes between “recycled material” and “non-recycled material,” but does...