ELA — A framework for life-cycle impact assessment developed by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Part B — Basic functionality of ELA explained with an example: Impact assessment of alcohol sulphates based on oleochemical and petrochemical sources

As part of a publication series, this paper deals with the description and explanation of basic features of the PC-compatible computer program ELA ( nvironmental oads nalysis) with the example of alcohol sulphate production based on different raw materials. Beside an “open environment” architecture to facilitate data transfer from and to the system, ELA consists of a graphics module and data bases containing information on emissions, resources, waste and on “actual flows” data for 3 reference areas. The latter is for the impact assessment results analysis (formerly “normalisation”) module. Thus, inventory data sets can be assessed very quickly in terms of environmental impacts and the results can be instantly visualised. Beside that, ELA offers the option to include ecotoxicological and toxicological aspects in the impact assessment.