Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract
Purpose – Using two different conceptual approaches to environmental life-cycle assessment, attributional and consequential, the purpose was to test
the hypothesis that a typical lead free solder paste Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7 is worse than Sn63Pb37 as far as global environmental impacts are concerned.
Design/methodology/approach – Single index weighting indices within the impact methodology Life cycle Impact Assessment Method based on
Endpoint Modelling (LIME) impact methodology, were applied to the flows of three life cycle inventory models and their globally related flows. The LIME
results based on three environmental impact categories, i.e. resource consumption, global warming and ozonelayer depletion are presented and
discussed.
Findings – The attributional LCA (ALCA) results point towards a larger impact for Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7 than Sn63Pb37 mostly due to the higher
Sn and Ag content. This study confirms earlier similar ALCAs. The system expansion for the Consequential LCA (CLCA) did not change this
conclusion.
Research limitations/implications – The present study has not included the affected microelectronics packaging parts of electronic products, nor has
it included toxic effects as they are local. ALCA was considered to be equal to CLCA for Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7, where no Ag nor Sn recycling was included.
Originality/value – For the first time a global environmental impact assessment of the shift to Pb-free solder paste using the LIME weighting method
applied to a CLCA is reported. Environmental life-cycle investigations intended to support decisions of an ecological nature in the microelectronics
packaging industry should benefit from the consequential approach.
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
The problems addressed in order to attempt to falsify this defined as the smallest system for which data is collected
hypothesis are: (Andræ et al., 2005). One variant of LCA is the so-called
H1. What are the attributional LIME scores, expressed attributional LCA (ALCA), sometimes also referred to as
in Japanese Yen, for an LCA comparison between LF retrospective or accounting LCA. The ALCA aims to specify
and TL? how much of the global environmental load within the system
H2. What is the consequential change in LIME score when boundaries belongs to a certain human activity. ALCA
a global change between TL and LF is made? commonly uses average data in contrast to specific data, and
is used to compare two or more alternatives and also to find
the most environmentally relevant unit processes. Another
Environmental life-cycle assessment of solders in variant of LCA is the so-called Consequential LCA (CLCA)
where the consequences of decisions, such as phasing out Pb
electronics
from electronics, are evaluated. These consequences can also
The total global environmental load and impact on the relate to activities outside of the system boundaries, should
biosphere, troposphere, and stratosphere is mainly the result these activities be affected (Ekvall and Andræ 2006). In
of the industrial metabolism connected to product systems in CLCA, the change in the global environmental load as a
which resources continuously are converted into useful result of adding or removing a specific human activity is
products and services demanded by human societies. studied. The CLCA make use of marginal data as it is the
Environmental LCA is most commonly used by universities marginal producers and consumers that are affected by a
and companies as a method to evaluate the mass balance of small change. One of the practical problems with the CLCA is
inputs and outputs of specific product systems and to organise how to identify who these marginal actors will be. An attempt
and convert those inputs and outputs into environmental was made to model the Pb and Pb scrap markets (Ekvall and
themes or categories relative to resource use, human health, Andræ 2006). The inventory flows (obtained in the data
and ecotoxicity explained by Rebitzer et al. (2004) and collection step as emissions, resource consumptions, and
Pennington et al. (2004). In Figure 1 the phases of LCA and waste amounts) from either an ALCA or CLCA, are classified
their inter-relationships are schematically shown. according to which possible environmental impacts, e.g.
In this context, an example of a LCA goal could be to global warming, they could cause. Anthropogenic and
compare the life cycle impact of a mobile phone using Pb and potential environmental impacts, which may be global,
one without Pb. The scope, which means what is intended to regional, local or a combination of these, include global
be included with the system boundary, could be just the warming, ozonelayer depletion, photo-chemical oxidant
solder life-cycle or also include the life cycles of all those parts creation, acidification, local air pollution, human toxicity,
of the phone using Pb, e.g. printed wiring board finishes, ecotoxicity, eutrophication, and resource consumption. For
termination finishes, ball grid array interconnections, and example, the CFC’s are classified as being able to contribute
internal chip-to-substrate interconnects for controlled both to global warming and to ozone layer depletion. After the
collapse chip technology (Garner et al., 2000). The classification the flows are characterised according to their
functional unit, the basis of the calculation, must be chosen relative importance for each environmental impact indicator.
and must reflect the function of the life-cycle. In this case, it The present research will focus on the integration of the
could be “the average use of one mobile phone during three environmental impact indicators for resource depletion,
years”. The scope decides which unit processes to quantify in global warming, and ozonelayer depletion as these
the inventory analysis within the system boundaries, of which environmental effects are global. In Figure 2 the scope of
examples are shown in Figure 2. In LCA a unit process is the present attributional solder paste life-cycle model, as
currently used by most LCA practitioners, is shown. The use
of the electronic product is outside the system boundary.
Figure 3 shows the scope of the present consequential
Figure 1 The phases in an LCA
model from the perspective of the global shift to LF from TL.
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
Electricity
production
Bulk alloy
production
Fuel Flux
production Solder powder production
production
Preparation for
Paste solder recycling
production
Solder
incineration
Paste Use of
application Electronic Landfill of
(Reflow soldering) product solder
Production and
Primary Sn Primary Pb Use of complimentary products
production production
Alternative Function of
World Pb use alternative Pb use
Market for
Pb
Function and
Electricity Pb recycling
use of competing products
production
Bulk alloy
production
Scrap collection
World
from
Market for
Fuel other Pb products
Pb scrap
production Solder powder
production
Waste management
of other Pb products
Preparation for
Paste
solder recycling
Flux production
production Solder
incineration
Paste Use of
application Electronic Landfill of
(Reflow soldering) product solder
how they valued different types of damage to the environment. expressed in Yen/kg enabling a comparison and integration of
This approach made it possible to make a monetary weighting the damage derived from different impact categories such as
between, e.g. human health and biodiversity. The Yen scores in global warming and ozonelayer depletion. In Figure 4 the
this context are what the Japanese society is willing to pay to LIME concept is shown with a focus on global impacts. Pb
avoid a unit of damage, caused by the environmental loadings, emissions are considered a local impact, as opposed to
to the safeguard objects shown in Figure 4. The compounds belonging to global impact categories, and are
present research made use of weighted LIME factors therefore not included within the scope.
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
Infectious
Oil
diseases
Resource Net primary
consumption Terrestial productivity
Sn ecosystem
User
cost
Ag
Vascular
Damage Weighting
Characterisation plant species
assessment
Notes: CFC = ChloroFluoroCarbons. Local toxic emissions like Pb are not part of the scope
For LIME, the resource consumption indices are originally Owing to lack of comparable cradle-to-gate resource data for
based on the resource characterisation as developed by the Ag, Pb, Cu and Sn production, it was assumed that the metal
French company Conception Development Durable resource consumption was only the produced metal. For
Environment CODDE (2007) for a Raw Material Depletion example, for 1 kg of Ag produced, 1 kg of Ag metal resources
(RMD) Indicator. Equation (1) explains how the indicator is was assumed as input, whereas the extraction and processing
calculated: energy inputs were taken from the literature. For Ag a mixed
model assuming Ag to be a by-product mainly of Canadian
X
1 1 Zn/Pb and Australian Au production was used (Teck
RMD ¼ £ Ii. . . £ kg
Ri kg £ Years Cominco Metal Ltd, 2004; Stewart and Petrie, 2006; New
Ri £ Y i ¼ M i Boliden, 2005), for Pb a model assuming Pb to be a product
of primary Pb production (Althaus and Classen, 2005), for
RMD is the total characterisation factor; Ri the available Cu a model assuming Cu to be a by-product of Ni production
reserve base of a resource (i) such as a high-grade metal ore, (Althaus and Classen, 2005), and for Sn a model assuming Sn
coal, etc. which realistically can be extracted; Yi the number to be a product of primary Sn production (Althaus and
of years left of resource (i) considering the rate at which it is Classen, 2005). However, the most relevant LCI data would
currently depleted; Mi the production of resource (i); and Ii have been a global average for ALCA and the marginal for
the inventory flow of resource (i). The inventory flow is the CLCA. Further, for the ALCAs, the outflow of printed board
amount of, e.g. silver needed to produce the functional unit. assemblies from the preparation process has a positive
Table I shows the figures used to calculate the RMD values. economic value. Therefore, it was not regarded as waste but
At this stage the recycling of metals is not included, but would a raw material inflow to the life-cycles where the recycled
presumably delay the decrease of Yi. metals are used. Thus, for ALCA, the metal recycling
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
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Table IV Top contributors to LIME single index given per solder paste type
Solder paste Life-cycle stage Unit process Flow Percentage of contribution
TL Manufacturing Sn production Sn resource consumption 62
Use Solder paste application CO2 emissions to air from electricity production 15
Use Solder paste application Coal resource consumption from electricity production 5
LF Manufacturing Sn production Sn resource consumption 45
Manufacturing Ag production Ag resource consumption 31
Use Solder paste application CO2 emissions to air from electricity production 9
functional unit. The most important differences between TL All impacts attributable to Pb production will not disappear as,
and LF are two-fold: Sn and Ag resource consumption. The Ag on the margin, Pb will be used in Pb-acid batteries (instead of
resources from Ag production are significant due to the solder pastes) which in combination with photovoltaic cells will
relatively high LIME factor for Ag, about 6,900¥/kg. CO2 replace diesel combustion for electricity generation. In fact,
emissions from electricity production are also noticeable. CLCA helped identify this offset in the impact related to the Pb
However, considering global warming results alone, it was production. Figure 6 shows the relative importance for
earlier reported for a similar inventory to the present study that different processes as evaluated by LIME compared to Eco-i.
the solder application process and the Sn production were the 99 and the three environmental impact categories on which
processes mainly affected (Ekvall and Andræ 2006). The they are based. Considering RMD results alone, they show a
marginal Pb usage, as a result of the ban on the use of Pb in big resemblance to the overall LIME results. The present
solder, will be where the competition is the largest and where CLCA study predicts that the LIME score will rise as the
the Pb consumers are most sensitive to a Pb price change. On avoidance of the environmental impacts connected to diesel
the margin, in remote areas, diesel combustion to generate combustion does not outweigh the increased resource
electricity is expected to be replaced by Pb back-up batteries consumptions and emissions from Ag, Sn, and energy
(the marginal Pb usage) when Pb is banned in solders. production.
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
Figure 5 The consequential LIME results expressed per functional unit obtained when subtracting the CLCA TL from the ALCA ( ¼ CLCA) LF
Yen / F.u.
Global LIME (toxicity not included)
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
–0.2
Ot So Sn Ag Di Pb
her lde pro pro ese pro
s rp du du l co du
ast cti cti mb cti
ea on on ust on
pp ion
lic
ati
on
Consequense of shift
Figure 6 The consequential LIME results compared to Eco-i. 99 and environmental impact categories GWP20
100%
80%
60%
Pb production
Diesel combustion
Ag production
40%
Sn production
Solder paste application
Others
20%
0%
Global Eco-i. 99 GWP20 ODP RMD
LIME
–20%
Notes: Global warming potential during 20 years(GWP20), ODP = ozone depletion potential,
RMD = raw material depletion
Further, it is likely that the Eco-i. 99 H, A weighted factor to the lack of inventory transparency. Nevertheless,
for Ag resources would be relatively high, and obviously two similar solder pastes to the present ones were
would indicate more similarities between overall and evaluated by the USEPA. These were Sn63Pb37 (SnPb)
individual Eco-i. 99 and LIME scores. and Sn95.5Ag3.9Cu0.6 (SAC). The results from the
Moreover, electricity production could be of higher environmental impact categories “Nonrenewable resource
importance, although not likely to change any conclusions. The use (NRR)” “global warming (GW)” and ”Ozone depletion
data quality is poor for the model of the scrap Pb market and (OD)” used by USEPA were used for a comparison with the
waste management of competing sources of scrap Pb. However, present LIME analysis. The USEPA functional unit was
this part of the model does not have a big influence on the results. 1,000 cm3 of solder metal alloy applied before the reflow
oven, compared to the present 0.53 cm3 of solder paste.
Other analyses of the shift to Pb-free solders Figure 7 shows the comparative results for the two studies
USEPA performed an attributional cradle-to-grave LCA expressed per USEPA functional unit, where 9,300 g of TL
comparison between Pb solders and Pb-free solders (Geibig and 8,170 g of LF correspond to that measure. The units
and Socolof, 2005). The present study cannot be easily are kg resources for NRR, kg CO2-equivalents for GW, and
compared to the one by USEPA, among other things due kg £ 106 CFC-11-equivalents for ODP.
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
Figure 7 Comparative results for the USEPA solder LCA study and the present regarding three different environmental impacts
kg
2000
1500
USEPA SnPb
USEPA SAC
1000 Present study TL
Present study LF
500
0
NRR GW ODP
Environmental impact category
The NRR difference is mainly due to the “inert rock” concluding remark is that there exists a limited production
resource consumption used in the USEPA model of electricity infrastructure for co-products in Pb ore processing. In case of
generation. The relatively low ODP value for TL is due to an extended ban on lead, both the availability and recovery of
effects identified by the use of CLCA, where the ODP from a range of metals will be affected (Verhoef et al., 2004; Reuter
alternate Pb usage (battery production) offsets ODP and Verhoef, 2004).
connected to electricity and Sn production. When the top
contributing inventory flows for NRR, GW and OD for SnPb Effect of recycling
and SAC were multiplied by the respective LIME single It is uncertain how much of the Sn, Ag, Pb, and Cu solder
index, the Zn-Pb-Cu resource consumption and CO2 metals that will be recycled will specifically be used for
emissions related to electricity generation for solder production of new solders. Quantification of this is especially
application were the dominating flows for SAC and SnPb, important for Ag and Sn. Based on this research increased
respectively. This comparison shows that USEPA did not recycling of Ag and Sn could be significant in decreasing the
characterise the resource consumption, but just reported the global impact. In the present research it was not possible to
magnitude and top contributors. For example, “inert rock” apply the LIME factors for other than global effects, as the
having a moderate LIME index, dominated the NRR which local LIME is adjusted for Japanese conditions. This
merely reports the amount of resources used. Should another screening of the global situation was however useful as it
type of characterisation by for example RMD have been strengthens earlier results showing that the social and
performed, other flows would have appeared as important. economic impacts, due to the consumption of resources for
Furthermore, the analysis of the USEPA study confirmed that Sn and Ag production, could rise as a result of the shift to Pb-
stratospheric ozone depletion is of minor importance for the free solder paste (Itsubo et al., 2004c, p. 441 Figure 2(b)-(c)).
LIME score.
Verhoef et al. (2004) and Reuter and Verhoef (2004) Consequential LCA including Ag and Sn
showed that dynamic modelling, as a life-cycle inventory of An important discussion is whether a consequential model for
the total upstream system, could be useful for assessing the LF would lead to different conclusions. How much will global
environmental aspects of the manufacturing of solders. The Sn and Ag usage rise as far as electronics solder is concerned?
system boundaries included the ore processing, metal Using Deubzer’s replacement scenario from the year 2003 to
production and solder production activities for solder alloys 2006 (Deubzer, 2007) the rise could be from about 68 Gg
including Sn60Pb40 and several Pb-free combinations. No before the shift (29 mass% of the global Sn consumption) to
inventory data were reported, but it was evaluated using the about 113 Gg (35 mass%) for Sn after the shift, and from
Eco-i. 99 method. However, the question was raised, whether 0.075 Gg (0.2 mass%) to 3.6 Gg (12 mass%) for Ag (it is
a ban on use of Pb will lead to an environmental benefit, as uncertain exactly how much electronic solder is globally used,
the manufacturing of solders could be considered a global but it was about 120,000 tonnes in 2003 and probably more
open loop recycling and production system. Verhoef argues than 10 per cent more in 2006). It mainly depends on the
that the governmental decisions to introduce Pb-free will push primary production, recycling, pricing and electronics market
the system out of the existing steady state globally, and while consumption of these metals, where economies such as that of
production of Pb, Cu and Sn would not be affected China Govern more and more the world market trends for Sn.
significantly, local changes could be important. The shift to Pb-free solder could lead to a decreased use of Ag
Nevertheless, the resource depletion dominated Eco-i. 99 and Sn in a mix of other products. Which marginal Sn
scores were higher for SnAgCu than for Sn-Pb, but became consumers, having the possibility to substitute Sn, are most
smaller as the authors changed the weighting of resource sensitive to a change in Sn price? Which marginal Ag
depletion to 5 per cent as compared to the initial settings of consumers, having the possibility to substitute Ag, are most
Eco-i. 99. The findings indicated that preventing human sensitive to a change in Ag price? A change in the Sn and Ag
toxicity will instead lead to resource damage. An important prices will affect the uses of these metals. For some products
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
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Lanzano, T., Bertram, M., De Palo, M., Wagner, C., Zyla, K.
and Graedel, T.E. (2006), “The contemporary European
silver cycle”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 46 About the authors
No. 1, pp. 27-43. Anders S.G. Andrae received his MSc degree
New Boliden (2005) Sustainability report 2005, available at: in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute
http://vp031.alertir.com/sustainability2005en/ (accessed 22 of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1997, his
May 2007) Licentiate degree and PhD degree in Electronics
Pennington, D.W., Potting, J., Finnveden, G., Lindeijer, E., Production from Chalmers University of
Jolliet, O., Rydberg, T. and Rebitzer, G. (2004), “Life cycle Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2002 and
assessment Part 2: Current impact assessment practice”, 2005, respectively. Between 1997 and 2001 he
Environment International, Vol. 30 No. 5, pp. 721-39. was at Ericsson working as an Environmental Engineer with
Plumbridge, W.J. (1996), “Solders in electronics”, Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. He has published 17 papers in refereed
Material Science, Vol. 31 No. 10, pp. 2501-14. journals and conferences. Since, 2006, he has been a post
Rankin, C.W., Nriagu, J.O., Aggarwal, J.K., Arowolo, T.A., doctoral research scientist at the Advanced Industrial Science
Adebayo, K. and Flegal, A.R. (2005), “Lead contamination and Technology (AIST), Research Center for Life Cycle
in cocoa and cocoa products: isotopic evidence of global Assessment, Tsukuba, Japan. He is a Member of the IEEE and
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Global environmental impact assessment of the Pb-free shift Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Anders S.G. Andrae, Norihiro Itsubo and Atsushi Inaba Volume 19 · Number 2 · 2007 · 18 –28
won the IEEE Young Award at the International Conference on Information Studies Department at the Musashi Institute of
Electronics Packaging in 2006 for the paper entitled Technology, Yokohama, Japan, and splits his time between
“Consequential Toxicity Assessment of the Global Shift to Musashi Institute of Technology and AIST. E-mail: itsubo-
Pb-free Solder Paste”. Anders S.G. Andrae is the corresponding n@yc.musashi-tech.ac.jp; itsubo-n@aist.go.jp
author and can be contacted at: a.andrae@aist.go.jp
Atsushi Inaba received his BSc, MSc, and
Norihiro Itsubo received his BSc degree from PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from
Osaka University in Osaka, Japan, and received Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1976, 1978
his MSc and PhD degrees from University of and 1981, respectively. Between 1981 and 1986
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 1993, 1995 and 1998, he was at the National Institute for Resources
respectively. Between 1998 and 2001 he was at and Environment (NIRE) and between 1984 to
the LCA Development Department, Japan
1986 at the National Bureau of Standard in the
Environmental Management Association For
USA. Between 1990 and 1992 he was at the International
Industry. In 2001 he became a Research Scientist at AIST’s
Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment (AISTLCA), Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Austria before
Tsukuba, Japan. In 2003 he was awarded by the Reliability being appointed Chief of the NIRE Planning Office where he
Engineering Association of Japan for his work “LCA of IC was from 1999 to 2001. In 2001 he was appointed Director of
packages”. Between 2003 and 2005 he was a researcher for AIST’s Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment, Tsukuba,
the Environmental Assessment Research Team at AISTLCA, Japan. In 2005 he was appointed Professor for Research into
and since 2005 he has been Team Leader for the LCA Artifacts at the Center for Engineering, The University of
Methodology Research Team at AISTLCA. In 2005 he was Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, and splits his time between the Director
appointed Associate Professor at the Environmental and and Professor roles. E-mail: a-inaba@aist.go.jp
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