Abiotic depletion potential

[edit] Definition

Abiotic depletion refers to the removal of abiotic resources from the earth, or the depletion of non-living natural resources. For materials it is generally measured as abiotic depletion potential (ADP).

[edit] EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021

ADP (both fossil and non fossil) are used as environmental impact indicators of EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021 which is used as guidance in the generation of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology used to create Product Environmental Footprints (PEF). It is also considered to be one of the environmental performance indicators for the calculation, assessment and generation of environmental product declarations (EPDs).

In general it is separated out into two categories, one for non fossil based resources (minerals and metals) and a second for fossil resources. In both cases, it is recommended that assessment of ADP as an environmental impact indicator should be used with care as the uncertainties of the results are high and there is limited experience of its use as an indicator

[edit] Abiotic depletion potential (ADP) for minerals and metals (non-fossil resources)

In the same way that the global warming potential (GWP) of different pollutants are converted to ratios CO2 equivalent figures, ADP values are usually calculated to and equivalent of Antimony or Sb eq. Antimony (Sb) is a chemical element atomic number 51, a gray metalloid, found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite. It is about one-fifth as abundant as arsenic, contributing on the average about one gram to every ton of Earth’s crust.

Examples
1 kg antimony = 1 kg Sb eq.
1 kg aluminium = 1.09 * 10^-9 Sb eq.
1 kg silver = 1.18 kg Sb eq.

(ref, ADP minerals & metals, EN 15804. Version: August 2021, Guinée et al. 2002, van Oers et al. 2002, CML 2001 baseline (Version: January 2016)

[edit] Abiotic depletion potential (ADP) for fossil resources

Here the weight of material is converted to its potential energy in unit in megajoules (MJ) equivalent to one million joules.

Examples
1 kg coal hard = 27.91 MJ
1 kg coal soft, lignite = 13.96 MJ

(Refs, ADP fossil resources, EN 15804. Version: August 2021, Guinée et al. 2002, van Oers et al. 2002, CML 2001 baseline (Version: January 2016)

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