ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF FIRE RETARDANT TREATED WOOD USED IN EXTERIOR CLADDINGS

Author(s): Fufa, S. M. and Bohne, R. A.
Paper category: Conference
Book title: XIII International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components - XIII DBMC
Editor(s): Marco Quattrone, Vanderley M. John
Print ISBN: none
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-149-0
Publication year: 2015
Pages: 260-266
Total Pages: 7
Language: English

Abstract: Fire retardant treated wood has been used in order to overcome the increasing demands of fire safety requirements and to extend the use of wood to most applications. The treated wood also has a positive environmental impact with respect to inhibiting fires, thus limiting the emissions produced during the burning of wood. In addition to effectiveness in the case of fire, for sustainable utilization of fire retardant treated wood, consideration of the environmental performance of the fire retardants throughout their life cycle is essential. Although the fire- LCA model has been developed and used to evaluate fire retardant products, the model has focused on the environmental impact of accidental fires based on fire statistics and experimental data. The aim of this work is to conduct a LCA of fire retardant treated wood in accordance with ISO 14040 series methodologies in order to investigate the performance of materials and/or processes, as well as the product life cycle stage, which contributes to the greatest impact on the environment. The LCA study considered the raw material acquisition, fire retardant treated wood production and transportation life cycle stages of 1 m3 of fire retardant treated wood. The environmental impact analysis results show the highest impact from the raw material production stage.

Online publication: 2015
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00