As a fundamental component of data for life cycle assessment models, elementary flows have been demonstrated to be a key requirement of life cycle assessment data interoperability. However, existing elementary flow lists have been found to lack sufficient structure to enable improved interoperability between life cycle data sources. The Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons Elementary Flow List provides a novel framework and structure for elementary flows, but the actual improvement this list provides to the interoperability of life cycle data has not been tested. The interoperability of ten elementary flow lists, two life cycle assessment databases, three life cycle impact assessment methods, and five life cycle assessment software sources is assessed with and without use of the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons Elementary Flow List as an intermediary in flow mapping. This analysis showed that only 25% of comparisons between these sources resulted in greater than 50% of flows being capable of automatic name-to-name matching between lists. This indicates that there is a low level of interoperability when using sources with their original elementary flow nomenclature, and elementary flow mapping is required to use these sources in combination. The mapping capabilities of the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons Elementary Flow List to sources were reviewed and revealed a notable increase in name-to-name matches. Overall, this novel framework is found to increase life cycle data source interoperability.
Keywords: elementary flow; interoperability; life cycle assessment; nomenclature.