Life cycle assessment of graphene as heating element

Abstract

Among the various applications of graphene is the heating purpose due to its promising thermal conductivity. This paper presents a life cycle model of graphene, capturing the “cradle to gate” approach, focusing on energy consumption and environmental impact of gra-phene. The embodied energy consumption was calculated based on em-pirical data in scientific papers, patents and databases while life cycle assessment modelling software was utilised for analysing its environ-mental impact. The result from the analysis shows that, the embodied energy for the synthesis of 1 kg of graphene ranges between 264-304 MJ. Further analysis shows that, 42% of graphene embodied energy is consumed from powder preparation through to graphitization process. Moreover, the result obtained from the modelling shows dust particles and CO2 emissions into air during graphene production. This paper should be followed by further study on graphene use and end of life phases to establish a comparison with the traditional heating materials.