ecoinvent 3.12 Released with Major Fuels, Metals, and Chemicals Updates

ecoinvent has released version 3.12 of its Life Cycle Inventory database, building on the extensive overhauls of recent versions with particular focus on fuels, metals, chemicals, and waste management sectors.

Key Points

• Updated crude petroleum oil and natural gas extraction data covering 40 onshore and 36 offshore producing countries

• Improvements to steel, aluminum, and zinc alloy production datasets

• Six new generic organic chemical datasets replacing the legacy "chemical, organic" flow

• Electricity market mixes updated with 2023 data for major economies

Fuels Sector: Continued Oil and Gas Evolution

Version 3.12 continues the extensive oil and gas overhaul initiated in versions 3.9.1 through 3.11. The update provides new data on the extraction or production of crude petroleum oil and natural gas based on 2023 reference year data. Geographic coverage now spans 40 countries for onshore production and 36 countries for offshore production. Additionally, the update includes regionalization of natural gas liquids production and fractionation datasets, adding 18 new geographies that collectively cover 95% of global natural gas liquids production. Five new geographies have also been added for helium production, now covering 96% of global output.

For users comparing results between versions, the Documentation of Changes report provides detailed mapping between 3.11 and 3.12 datasets for each system model.

Metals Sector Improvements

The metals sector receives improvements addressing gaps in specialized material modeling. Updates include refinements to steel, aluminum, and zinc alloy production that allow for more representative and consistent inventories for practitioners modeling these materials.

Chemicals and Plastics Expansion

The chemicals sector introduces six new generic datasets for key organic product groups covering basic precursors, alcohols, aromatics, carboxylic acids, esters, and unspecified organics. These new datasets replace the legacy and more generic "chemical, organic" flow, providing better differentiation for chemical supply chains. The effort to expand product coverage for both specific chemicals and plastics, as well as generic datasets based on functional groups, will continue in future releases.

Energy Sector Updates

Version 3.12 updates electricity market datasets using the consistent approach applied since ecoinvent 3.6. Enerdata serves as the primary data source for electricity generation across most regions, with exceptions for countries where detailed national data are available. EU member states use EuroSTAT data from the European Commission. Notable updates include 2023 electricity data for India, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States.

Waste Management Corrections

Based on both internal review and user feedback, the waste management sector received targeted corrections. One notable update addresses chromium VI emissions from electric arc furnace slag going to residual material landfill. Based on more recent measurements, the availability of chromium to leach as chromium VI was reduced in the model, as it is more stably bound as chromium III. This correction reduces impact scores in ecotoxicity and human toxicity categories.

Plastic Recycling Integration

Building on the plastic recycling project for version 3.11, recyclable polymers are now available for other datasets to incorporate. European datasets generating plastic wastes now appropriately route waste polymers to recycling facilities.

System Models

ecoinvent continues to support four system models: Allocation cut-off by classification, Allocation at the Point of Substitution (APOS), Consequential, and Allocation cut-off EN15804. The unlinked unit process version remains available for users preferring direct access to raw data. ecoinvent 3.12 is available through licensed software platforms including openLCA, SimaPro, and Sphera's LCA for Experts. Users should consult the detailed release documentation for guidance on transitioning from previous versions.