choose this expertise?
Do you want to:
- Assess the environmental impacts of your products
- Design or improve a product while considering its environmental impacts
- Identify opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint of your materials and processes
UBSIDE supports you from product analysis to environmental improvement, taking the entire value chain into account. Our experts, specialized in polymer and composite materials and processes, will advise you on the environmental optimization of your products.
LCA, topological optimization, selection of sustainable materials… we study your products using the most suitable tools to minimize their environmental impacts.
Our made-to-measure services
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Eco-design
Training and support
Energy consumption measurements
Interpretation and valorization
Service details
Life Cycle Assessment of products, processes, and materials
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an eco-design tool used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product according to international standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. LCA can account for all impacts from raw material extraction to the product’s end of life.
The goal of this approach is, for example, to identify the stages of a product’s life that have the highest environmental impact in order to reduce them.
At UBSIDE, our experts, trained in LCA and in the implementation of polymers and composites, analyze your products, materials, and/or processes by accounting for their environmental impact sources. This can range from comparing a bio-based material with a petroleum-based one to comparing a robotic fiber placement process using a thermoset matrix versus a thermoplastic matrix.
The objective is to conduct the analysis collaboratively so that it reflects reality as closely as possible and is useful for understanding your product’s impacts and guiding environmental improvements.
Eco-design of a product, process, or material based on functional and technical specifications
The goal is to design or improve a product from an environmental perspective, while maintaining its functions, based on a functional and technical specification. This work starts with analyzing the need and is carried out using various eco-design tools. Creating multi-criteria decision matrices based on your needs, , topological optimization studies, and our collaboration with domain experts such as Apesa allow us to propose multiple tailored solutions. These solutions are then validated through LCA.
Training and support for performing a Life Cycle Assessment
If you wish to perform LCAs internally, UBSIDE provides training and support, enabling you to regularly consult our experts to solve any issues encountered during LCA implementation. The goal is to enable you to independently manage LCA tools and steps in the future. This project management support is based on challenges we have already faced during our own LCAs.
Energy consumption measurement
UBSIDE has electrical power measurement devices that precisely quantify electricity consumption for any type of process, which is essential for performing LCAs. These devices can measure consumption from a single machine element up to an entire room or building.
Support for interpretation and communication of results
LCA is a complex methodology but essential for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product, material, or process. This service provides guidance on understanding, interpreting, and presenting LCA results.
Our added value
Choosing UBSIDE gives you access to a unique technical platform with advanced expertise in polymers and composites.
Our mastery of materials, processing techniques, and environmental challenges allows us to support you in a robust and tailored eco-design approach.
With our LCA tools and expertise, we produce precise, highly reliable data compared to generic databases.
Our integrated technical center enables us to test, validate, and implement solutions directly with you.
Fields of activity
Pressure tank design
UBSIDE and the ComposiTIC university platform have developed expertise in the design and sizing of gas tanks subject to internal pressures or external vacuum (e.g., containers used at great depths at sea). UBSIDE masters various materials and processes required for pressure tank design. With in-house studies, UBSIDE can perform LCA and eco-design studies with precise data on pressure tank components. .
Sustainable polymer materials
UBSIDE specializes in sustainable polymer materials, covering formulation, processing, characterization, aging, recycling, biodegradation, and microplastic analysis. LCA is a natural continuation, allowing clients to estimate environmental gains from these activities. This also enriches our eco-design services by offering clients solutions that can be tested and implemented.
Additive manufacturing of composites
UBSIDE specializes in additive manufacturing of composites. Environmental data for these processes are often missing from generic databases. Our process expertise and measurement equipment allow us to provide specific data on your composite additive manufacturing processes (3D printing, AFP, filament winding, etc.). This enables accurate knowledge of your process energy consumption.
Technical means
SimaPro, OpenLCA software
SimaPro version: 10.2
Ecoinvent and Environmental Footprint databases
Ecoinvent version: 3.11
