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Life Cycle Assessment Commons

USLCI Quarterly Release: Spring 2025 Update

The new release is available on the Federal LCA Commons in the NREL USLCI group repository. The update in openLCA, zolca, and JSON-LD formats can also be downloaded from the USLCI GitHub Support Content Downloads page along with the associated libraries.

 

Overview of USLCI 2025 Spring Quarter Changes:

  • Updated/added 324 on-road trucking datasets from EPA MOVES. These datasets were prepared by ERG on behalf of NREL. This update replaced all existing on-road truck transportation processes and created new processes for use of CNG, E85, and battery-electric as the fuel. The data and modeling approach are available in a public GitHub repository: uslci-moves.

     

  • Added nine new wastewater treatment pathways which include wastewater treatment, effluent release, sludge hauling and landfill processes, and biogas flaring (28 processes total). These datasets were prepared for the FLCAC by ERG, based on prior published research conducted for EPA’s Office of Water.

    • Conventional plug flow activated sludge, Level 1
    • Anaerobic/anoxic/oxic, Level 2-1
    • Activated sludge, 3-sludge system, Level 2-2
    • 5-Stage bardenpho, Level 3-1
    • Modified University of Cape Town, Level 3-2
    • 5-Stage bardenpho system with denitrification filter, Level 4-1
    • 4-Stage bardenpho membrane bioreactor, Level 4-2
    • 5-Stage bardenpho with sidestream reverse osmosis, Level 5-1
    • 5-Stage bardenpho membrane bioreactor with sidestream reverse osmosis, Level 5-2

     

  • Updated PVC, EDC-VCM, chlorine, sodium hydroxide, and hydrogen processes based on new data from the Vinyl Institute and Sustainable Solutions Corporation. Removed the sodium hydroxide and hydrogen electrolysis processes and combined them with the chlorine electrolysis process using mass allocation.

     

  • Added lithium hydroxide monohydrate production from pre-treated lithium brine and lithium hydroxide monohydrate production from spodumene concentrate (six processes total) from Natural Resources Canada and Argonne National Laboratory.

    • Lithium hydroxide monohydrate; production from pre-treated lithium brine
    • Pre-treated lithium brine
    • Lithium brine; extraction and reinjection
    • Lithium hydroxide monohydrate; production from spodumene concentrate
    • Spodumene mineral concentrate; beneficiation process
    • Spodumene ore; open pit mining

     

  • To fill in gaps in the wastewater and other inventories, 13 bridge processes to connect USLCI to USEEIO v2.0 were developed. To generate complete product systems that leverage these bridge processes, import USEEIO v2.0 into the same database as USLCI. Read more about bridge process implementation.

     

  • Wastewater and other cutoff flows were mapped to the new wastewater flows or bridge processes where applicable.

 

More details are available in the USLCI Press Release brief, and you can access the Change Log. The USLCI Content Support includes access to archived versions of the USLCI.   

Please see the "How to Publish in the USLCI" section in the USLCI Data Submission Handbook and/or contact the USLCI Data Curator if you have any USLCI publishing goals for the next release date, June 30, 2025.

Please contact lci@nrel.gov and/or uslci@erg.com with any questions or concerns you may have about submitting data to the USLCI Database.

Please email us to be added to the USLCI updates. Thank you for your continued support!