C6.1 LCA, materials and crude oil Flashcards
What is the difference between carbon footprint and LCA?
Carbon footprint is the total amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product service or event.
LCA analyses the total environmental impact like water use as well
What is a Life cycle assessment?
An analysis of the impact of making, using and disposing a manufacturers product
What should LCA include?
Sustainability
Environmental Impact
Lifespan of product , can it be recycled?
Disposal, does it break down
What does the diagram for the LCA look like?
Extract & process raw materials.
Manufacturing and packaging.
Use and reuse.
Dispose.
Transport and distribution at all stages
What are the Problems with LCAs?
Doesnt take into account:
Use of water
Use of resources
Amount of energy used
How much waste is produced
What is the most expensive and has the highest melting point out of: polyethene, PET, polypropene?
Expensive and melting point = PET
How are aluminium cans recycled?
Shredded removing any coloured coating
Melted in blast furnace
Molten metal is poured into ingot shape
Rolled really thin then into cans
Why do we recycle aluminium?
Uses 95% less energy than producing from raw materials
100% recyclable and sustainable
What are some disadvantages of recycling?
Expensive and needs collecting, sorting, transporting and cleaning. A lot of work
What are the environmental impacts of the reduce, reuse and recycle aluminium cans scheme?
Reduces pollutant effect as less energy is used during manufacture
What are the economic impacts of the reduce, reuse and recycle aluminium cans scheme? ( different )
Reduced use means less profit for manufacture
Reused and recycled use is cheaper than extracting from ground. More profit
What are the effects on raw material resources with the reduce, reuse and recycle aluminium cans scheme? ( different )
Reduce - More raw materials can be used for other purposes
Reuse and recycle - more raw materials can be left in the ground
Why is recycling important?
Conserving limited raw materials
Reducing release of harmful substances
Reduces waste
What are 4 factors affecting if something should be recycled?
How easily waste can be collected and stored
Amount and type of by-products released
Cost of recycling
Energy involved in recycling
What is the definition of a hydrocarbon?
Compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen
What is the definition of a homologous series?
Family of organic compounds with similar chemical reactions and similar trends in their properties
What is the definition of crude oil?
Unrefined oil that has been extracted which is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons
What is the alkane homologous series?
Methane
Ethane
Propane
Butane
What is the general formula for the alkane homologous series?
Cn H2n+2
As the chain length (number of carbons) gets longer what happens to the boiling point?
Gets higher
Is methane, ethane , propane and butane a gas at room temperature?
Yes
Why does the boiling point increase as you go down the chain of alkane homologous series?
The intermolecular forces get stronger as the molecules gets larger
Are all alkanes saturated?
Yes
What is a petrochemical?
Chemicals mainly derived from hydrocarbons
How does fractional distillation work?
Crude oil is heated outside the fractional column into a vapour and then piped into the column. Hot Vapours rise and move up the column.
Mixture is separated by boiling point and condensing point
High boiling points come out at the bottom (long chains)
Each separation is called a fraction.
Mixture will cool, condense, and then be collected.
Each fraction has different uses
Why do we use alkanes?
They burn well
What is the difference between Alkanes and Alkenes?
Alkenes have one double bond
Alkanes are a saturated hydrocarbon with only single covalent bonds
What is more reactive? Alkanes or Alkenes
Alkenes are more reactive than alkanes
What is the definition of cracking?
Process of converting larger alkanes into smaller alkanes and alkenes through high temperatures and catalyst
