Fig 1.
Cradle-to-gate system boundary of transcontinental sisal/PLA composite production.
The diagram shows sisal cultivation and fibre/yarn production in Tanzania, domestic transport, air freight to Denmark, composite manufacturing (6% sodium hydroxide treatment, vacuum drying, filament winding, compression moulding and trimming), process-residue treatment, and the baseline return air transport of the finished composite to Tanzania. The final composite photograph is reproduced from Ansbert et al. [32] under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Table 1.
Pedigree matrix assessment of the life cycle inventory.
Table 2.
Consolidated life cycle inventory data for 1 kg of sisal-reinforced PLA composite plate.
Table 3.
Parametric modifications in sensitivity analysis scenarios.
Table 4.
Baseline midpoint environmental impacts and process contributions (per 1 kg of sisal/PLA composite).
Fig 2.
Process-level contributions to selected midpoint impacts of sisal/PLA composite production.
The chart shows percentage contributions from composite manufacturing, intercontinental air freight, local transport, sisal fibre production, sisal yarn production, and waste treatment.
Table 5.
Deterministic midpoint impacts analysis under sensitivity scenarios.
Table 6.
Statistical summary of Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis (10,000 iterations).
Fig 3.
Monte Carlo uncertainty distributions for selected midpoint environmental impacts of sisal/PLA composite production.
Panels show (A) global warming potential (GWP), (B) terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP), (C) human non-carcinogenic toxicity potential (HNCTP), (D) land use (LU), and (E) fossil resource scarcity potential (FRSP) from 10,000 simulations. Dashed vertical lines indicate the deterministic baseline estimates.
Table 7.
Performance-based environmental benchmarking against alternative window frame materials.