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EnviroInfo 2013: Environmental Informatics and Renewable Energies
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
Key IT-results of the BioEnergieDat Project
Clemens Düpmeier1, Oliver Kusche1, Liselotte Schebek2, Andreas Ciroth3
Abstract
The BioEnergieDat project had been carried out by a consortium of German research organizations for the German
Ministry of Environment as one important part of the German Sustainable Biomass Strategy. The main goals of the
project were the development of a comprehensive database of LCI data sets describing important Bioenergy process
chains in a flexible and customizable way and the development of an associated open source software infrastructure
for LCA modelling of Bioenergy technologies for German framework conditions.
One of the main requirements of the project was that the provided data sets can be used in different LCA modelling
situations and shouldn’t restrict users to only one usage context, i.e. performing only a certain type of LCA study.
Therefore, new methodological approaches and enhancements to the underlying data set model / format had also to
be developed and implemented to fulfil these requirements. Both, the tool environment developed in BioEnergieDat
for LCA modelling of bioenergy technologies and key IT-aspects to support the new modelling approaches are described in further detail.
1.
Introduction
The increased use of Bioenergy technology is an important part of the German Climate Policy. Therefore,
within the German Sustainable Biomass Strategy, the assessment of existing and novel Bioenergy technologies based on a life cycle assessment approach has been acknowledged as important contribution to
verify that the new technologies meet underlying policy goals. To carry out such assessment studies the
“need of an adequate database” of biomass related LCI data sets had been identified as one focus of the
funding program of the Ministry of Environment (BMU) in the last years. In this context the project BioEnergieDat had been carried out by a consortium of German research organizations from 2010 – 2012
(Schebek 2010). The main goals of the project were the development of a comprehensive database of LCI
data sets describing important bioenergy process chains in a flexible and customizable way and the development of an associated open source software infrastructure for LCA modelling for German framework
conditions.
One of the main requirements of the project was that the provided data sets can be used in different
LCA modelling situations and shouldn’t restrict users to only one usage context, i.e. performing only a
certain type of LCA study. Therefore, the technical and methodological concepts behind the BioEnergieDat database are based on the idea of a methodological core that specifies fundamental modelling information and additional information chunks (deltas) which can be switched on (or off) if needed for certain modelling situations. The methodological core ensures that necessary basic information for all applications of the data set for a broad variety of life cycle approaches is provided by all data sets. The ‘deltas’
define additional information needed only for specific usage perspectives (Ciroth 2011b).
1
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Applied Computer Science (IAI), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1,
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany, {clemens.duepmeier | oliver.kusche}@kit.edu
2
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut IWAR, Fachbereich Industrielle Stoffkreisläufe, Petersonstraße 13, 64287 Darmstadt,
Germany, [email protected]
3
GreenDelta, Müllerstrasse 135, 13349 Berlin, Germany, [email protected]
Flexibility in data modelling was also needed to ensure that the described process chains don’t limit
modelling to only one specific technical implementation of the underlying process. Therefore, wherever
possible the unit processes and process chains were implemented as more generic processes that are fully
parameterized and can be easily adapted to describe more specific technical implementations of the underlying process by tuning the parameterization of the data sets in the process chain.
To support these new modelling concepts and a seamless workflow for users to edit, manage und use
the BioEnergieDat data sets for LCA studies in a collaborative manner the BioEnergieDat project also developed an Open source software infrastructure consisting of an enhanced version of an Open Source LCA
modelling tool and a service oriented LCA database software for accessing data sets via the Internet right
from within the LCA tool. The BioEnergieDat web portal complements these tools with supplementary
online accessible documentation and direct data access via the web browser.
BioEnergieDat data sets and tools are provided to the general public at the BioEnergieDat portal
www.bioenergiedat.de since April 2013. Time to summarize key IT-concepts and lessons learnt so far.
2.
The BioEnergieDat IT-infrastructure
The basic IT-infrastructure (see Figure 1) built for the BioEnergieDat project consists of a central web
portal (http://www.bioenergiedat.de) as main access point to the results of the project, a service oriented
LCA database application for the management of the BioEnergieDat data sets based on soda4LCA and an
optimized version of the Open Source LCA modelling tool openLCA, which understands the complete data semantics and methodology behind the BioEnergieDat data sets.
Figure 1
IT-infrastructure of the BioEnergieDat web portal
soda4LCA (service oriented database application for LCA) is a Java-based web application developed by
the Institute of Applied Computer Sciene (IAI) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) that exposes most of its functionality through a RESTful service API which can be used by LCA tools and other
software to access and exchange LCA related data sets with an soda4LCA instance via the Internet (soda4LCA 2011, Düpmeier 2011).
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
Its advanced data management capabilities, like version management, management of different physical
and logical data stocks and data set and data stock release management, makes it an ideal fit for BioEnergieDat production and development database management [Düpmeier 2012]. soda4LCA allows it also to
exchange data sets and synchronize complete data stocks between different soda4LCA instances, a functionality which is very important for the upcoming ILCD data network of the EU (Wolf 2010, Kusche
2012).
Because the BioEnergieDat project and also the ILCD network partners of the EU will use soda4LCA
for data management the BioEnergieDat database is a good candidate for a future node of the ILCD data
network which could specialize on energy related data sets in the German and / or European context.
openLCA (see Figure 2) developed by GreenDelta GmbH is a freely available Open Source LCA modelling tool for professional Life Cycle Assessment and Footprint modelling which supports all common
modelling options, like parameterization and complex mathematical models for unit processes, describing
complex process and product models graphically as connected process chains, supporting different kind of
allocations and system expansions and even uncertainty calculations. Calculation capabilities include LCI
and LCIA result calculations for different common LCIA methods and visualization options of the results,
like Sankey diagrams to visualize hotspots. Because openLCA is based on the Eclipse rich client application platform it can be easily extended by writing new Eclipse plugins for the platform (openLCA 2011).
Figure 2
openLCA LCA modelling tool showing the process chain
of a biogas block power station
All parts of the BioEnergieDat IT-infrastructure are highly integrated. Data sets and even complete product systems modelled within one instance of the openLCA tool can directly be stored within the central
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
database system over the Internet. Another user can just open its local openLCA software instance, search
for and import every data set or even a complete product system directly from within the tool with a few
clicks. A modified and enhanced data exchange format based on the International Life Cycle Data (ILCD)
format used by openLCA and the database system ensures that every BioEnergieDat modelling aspect is
transparently saved in the database and won’t get lost in between exchange actions.
Users can directly browse, review and download data sets with their favourite web browser via a data
navigation portlet integrated into the central web portal without the need to open an external LCA tool.
Data sets within the database can also refer to external documentation files which are managed in the web
portal in an integrated document management system. Hypertext linking between data sets and their document-based documentation then allows direct navigation from data sets to associated external documentation, and web pages within the portal can group related data sets and documentation together in a single
web page.
Figure 3
Data navigation portlet within the BioEnergieDat portal
showing metadata of a process data set
Both, the openLCA tool and the LCA data set browsing and navigation portlet in the web portal (see
Figure 3) use the REST API of soda4LCA for accessing the database (Düpmeier 2011, Ciroth 2011a). The
REST API uses the ILCD format to transfer complete LCA data sets between communication partners.
The choice of data format is very important here for several reasons discussed in the next chapter.
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
3.
The importance of enhancements to the data exchange format
The flexibility of BioEnergieDat data sets depends largely on the fact that modern LCA tools support the
usage of variables, formulas and the parameterization of unit process data sets to build more complex and
more flexible mathematical models of data sets. When such parameterized data sets are combined into a
bigger process model (product system) some of the parameters on unit data set level can be overridden in
context of the product system to fine tune certain aspects of the unit processes within the modelled product
system. Other Boolean parameters can just be used to switch certain functionalities, like the use of substitution, the use of a special form of allocation or a scenario calculating the impact of the data set for 2020
on or off in the product system. Figure 4 shows as an example the mathematical model and parameterization of a biogas block power station modelled in BioEnergieDat which has a parameter “gutschriftth” to
switch the crediting for co-production of heat in a concrete realization of the power station on (value of
parameter set to 1) or off (value of parameter set to 0 = default).
Figure 4
Mathematical model and parameterization (as shown in openLCA) of a process data set
describing a biogas block power station
Because more traditional LCA data exchange formats, like EcoSpold1, don’t support parameterized data sets or even the notion of formulas, much of the flexibility of the BioEnergieDat data sets will get lost,
if they are either exported or imported using one of these older formats. The complex mathematical model
of the data set will then fall back to just numbers which are pre calculated within the data set when the
variables and parameters in the formulas are all substituted by their default values.
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
The XML-based International Life Cycle Data (ILCD) data exchange format (Europe 2011) for LCA
data was the first data exchange format developed for LCA which fully supports complex mathematical
unit process data models and parameterization of data sets. Because of this, the service oriented database
system soda4LCA and also the openLCA tool use the ILCD format to exchange data sets. Other LCA
tools, like GaBi, support the ILCD format too.
But neither older LCA formats nor ILCD allow it in their current forms to exchange complete product
systems between tools. In fact it’s possible to calculate the LCI or LCIA results for a complete product
system and exchange these as aggregated process data sets or result data sets in EcoSpold1 or ILCD. But
current formats are lacking the possibility to attach machine readable information about the underlying
process chain to an aggregated process data set so that the process chain can be reconstructed if needed in
the importing tool. This was unsatisfactorily for the BioEnergieDat project in several aspects.
First, if a parameterized product model is only transferred to another tool as aggregated result data set, it
can only be used and viewed as a black box. This means that the user of this dataset cannot take advantage
of the fact, that this product model is parameterized. If the whole process chain would be available to him
he could adapt the parameterization to his special modelling situation and just recalculate the result data
set so that it better fits to his application scenario. Another disadvantage is that aggregated processes as
black box often don’t specify how they are modelled internally. If the underlying process chain is unavailable such data sets are lacking transparency, especially for reviewers of the data set. But transparency and
flexibility of data sets for users were very important requirements for the BioEnergieDat project.
<pm:productModel name="BHKW">

<pm:nodes>

<pm:process id="p1" uuid="0001" name="BHKW">

<pm:parameter name="efficiency"
formula="overallEfficiency * 0.6"/>
<pm:parameter name="otherParameter" formula="1000"/>
</pm:process>
<pm:process id="p2" uuid="0002" name="TractorUsage"/>
<pm:process id="p3" uuid="0003" name="Lubricate, at farm"/>
<pm:process id="p4" uuid="0004" name="GrassCropping"/>
<pm:process id="p5" uuid="0005" name="CornCropping"/>
<pm:process id="p6" uuid="0006" name="BiogasPlant"/>
</pm:nodes>
<!—connectors between nodes -->
<pm:connections>

<pm:connector id="c1" origin="p2">
<!— mapping between flows of nodes -->
<pm:product uuid="F0000" name="TractorUsage">
<pm:consumedBy processId="p4" flowId="F0000"/>
</pm:product>
</pm:connector>
<pm:connector id="c2" origin="p2">
<pm:product uuid="F0000" name="TractorUsage">
<pm:consumedBy processId="p5" flowId="F0000"/>
</pm:product>
</pm:connector>

</pm:connections>
</pm:productModel>
Figure 5
Extension to the ILCD format describing the process chain of a product model
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
Therefore, an extension to the ILCD format was developed and implemented in soda4LCA and openLCA
in context of the BioEnergieDat project (see Figure 5) which supports the exchange of aggregated process
data sets and complete product models including a formal description of the underlying process chain so
that the process chain models including their parameterization could be easily reconstructed in the receiving instance of the openLCA tool. Because the ILCD format has foreseen generic extension points
throughout the format where foreign namespace extensions could be integrated into data sets without
breaking the format, this extension was easily implemented conform to the existing ILCD format version
using a separate namespace. Such enhancements can then be reconsidered for integration in the ILCD
format itself when a new version will be created sometime in future.
The XML pseudo source code in Figure 5 shows an abbreviated and simplified version of such a process
chain description as extension to an ILCD format process data set.
As illustrated in the pseudo code a description of a process chain <pm:productModel> consists of a list of
nodes <pm:process> which represent the LCI processes (unit processes or other aggregated processes)
contained in the model and a list of connectors <pm:connector> describing the connections between these
nodes.
Because processes may be parameterized a node description can contain a parameter assignment
<pm:parameter> which overrides the default value of the corresponding process parameter within the context of the higher-level product model. The value part of such a process parameter assignment could be a
formula containing variables defined in the mathematical section of the product model itself (not shown in
the above example), i.e. to illustrate parameter assignment the parameter “efficiency” has been assigned
the value “overallEfficiency * 0.6” which is a formula containing the product model variable “overallEfficiency”.
Connectors describe the flow of products between processes in a product model. The “origin” attribute
of a <pm:connector> tag defines the producer, i.e. where a product originates. The product, that flows, is
identified by the “uuid” attribute of the <pm:product> tag wrapped by the <pm:connector> element
which contains the uuid of the corresponding ILCD flow data set of type “product flow”. Lastly, the
<pm:consumedBy> tag within the <pm:product> tag defines the process data set which consumes the
product (consumer). Note, that for multi-output processes, more than one <pm:product> tags could be
wrapped in one <pm:connector> tag.
4.
Summary and Outlook
Within the BioEnergieDat project a comprehensive database of flexible and customizable LCI data sets
describing important bioenergy process chains has been developed. Flexibility and adaptability of the data
sets are largely due to using more complex mathematical models and parameterization in the modelling of
the unit processes. Such unit processes can be chained together to more complex parameterized product
systems which are also highly customizable.
But users can only take advantage of this flexibility if the used tool chain fully supports parameterized
unit processes with complex mathematical models and the transparent exchange of complete parameterized product models in a seamless manner. Therefore, a second main result of the BioEnergieDat project is
an Open Source IT-infrastructure consisting of a service oriented Internet accessible LCA database for
storing and providing data sets and an enhanced version of the openLCA LCA modelling software that
fully supports the exchange of parameterized data sets and complete product systems between database
and tool instances directly over the Internet without losing any modelling information.
For this goal the used ILCD data exchange format had also to be enhanced and expanded. Luckily this
was possible in a compatible manner through the use of extension points within the format.
In the future it would be nice if the IT-results of the BioEnergieDat project could be feedback into the
used LCA standards like the ILCD format and will also find their way into other tools.
Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5
In order to ensure continuous provision, updating and support of the BioEnergieDat database, a host organization was implemented which takes over the operational responsibilities for the database and will be
active in future revisions as well as extensions of the database and the IT-infrastructure. The organization
will be complemented by an advisory committee, consisting of BioEnergieDat partners as well as additional scientific organizations in the field of LCA and Bioenergy. Data provision will be based on collaboration with internationally leading data providers as to development of data sets and services.
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Copyright 2013 Shaker Verlag, Aachen, ISBN: 978-3-8440-1676-5