Acidification potential
Acidification potential refers to the amount that different compounds contribute to acid rain. This includes sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (N2O), as well as a variety of other substances.
Acidification potential is one of the core environmental impact indicators of EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021, which is used as guidance in the generation of the lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology used to create product environmental footprints (PEF). It is also considered one of the mandatory environmental performance indicators for the calculation, assessment and generation of environmental product declarations (EPDs).
In the same way that the global warming potential (GWP) of different pollutants are converted to ratios (for example CO2 being 1:1 CO2 eq and Methane being 36.8 CO2 eq) Acidification potential is usually estimated in the same way but as a characterisation of SO2-equivalence. For example:
- 1 kg ammonia = 1.88 kg SO2 eq.
- 1 kg nitrogen dioxide = 0.7 kg SO2 eq.
- 1 kg sulphur dioxide = 1 kg SO2 eq.
References; AP, accumulated excedence, EN 15804. Version: August 2021. Seppälä et al. 2006, Posch et al. 2008
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