Assessing Toxicological information in Product Systems

A project led and co-developed by: BASF SE (Germany) – Subcategory: Transition to safe and sustainable chemicals

The project was initiated and co-funded in 2016 by a consortium with the aim of providing companies across the industrial value chain with a reliable tool for toxicological information on the chemicals used in their product systems. ProScale is a new approach designed to assist companies in transitioning to safer and more sustainable chemicals. It helps evaluate the potential risks of chemical substances throughout their entire lifecycle, aligning with the objectives of the Responsible Care Initiative.

The consortium initial industry members were BASF, Covestro, DBC, DSM, Kingspan and Solvay. Later, Clariant, DOW and Merck joined. ProScale is run by the scientific partner, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL). IVL is further refining its methodology and consolidating foundational datasets from publicly available sources.

Filling the gap

ProScale is a new approach to assess toxicological data of chemicals over their life cycle.

Evaluating the environmental and toxicity impacts of products from cradle to grave is challenging for producers as it depends on quantifiable data on hazards and exposure. While REACH databases provide ample toxicological data, practitioners need this information integrated into Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). The lack of a harmonised approach was the starting point for Professor Peter Saling (Director Sustainability Methods, BASF) and Tomas Rydberg (PhD, senior expert LCM at IVL), to work out a new method – ProScale.

Methodology and application

Based on publicly available data from REACH, ProScale complements existing approaches that are already used in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). It complements the Product Environmental Footprints (PEF) of the EU commission and considers even forthcoming regulatory frameworks such as Safe and Sustainable by Design or Ecodesign.

The need for safer and more sustainable chemicals is a shared concern across the value chain. By adopting this methodology, companies can access accurate toxicological information on the chemicals used in their product systems throughout their entire life cycle. The tool provides a robust, science-based evaluation of toxic characteristics using a scoring system that aggregates data from individual chemicals to complete products. The scores are based on four parameters: Hazard Factor (HF), Exposure Concentration Factor (ECF), Person-Hours Factor (PHF), Mass Flow (MF).  These can be used to mitigate environmental impacts, particularly toxicity, and to adopt more environmentally friendly production processes.

User perspective and benefits

ProScale is unique in that it considers the data from a single chemical as well as the complete product from well-established databases. With the holistic cradle-to-gate scores from a Life Cycle Analysis, users can identify improvement potentials on e.g. minimising waste, reducing energy consumption and Carbon footprints, reduced human toxicity potential as well as switching to more sustainable production processes.

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