Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment of Industrial Lyocell Fiber Production in Türkiye: A Site-Specific Case Study

This study aims to evaluate the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts of industrial-scale lyocell fiber production in Türkiye using site-specific foreground data. The assessment was conducted in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 using SimaPro 9.4 software and the Ecoinvent v3.7.1 database, with a declared unit of 1 kg of lyocell fiber at the facility gate. The results indicate that climate change, fossil resource use, freshwater use, and land use are the most relevant impact categories within the evaluated system. The total Global Warming Potential was calculated as 4.13 kg CO2 eq/kg fiber. Contribution analysis showed that the production stage was the dominant source of climate change impacts, followed by raw material supply, transportation, pulp production, and waste management. Electricity consumption, steam generation, dissolving pulp production, and transportation logistics were identified as the main environmental hotspots. A screening-level sensitivity assessment further indicated that electricity supply is a key improvement lever, with photovoltaic electricity substitution showing substantial potential for reducing GWP. The findings provide site-specific evidence for industrial lyocell production in Türkiye and demonstrate the value of primary LCA datasets for hotspot identification, product-level environmental reporting, sustainability benchmarking, and possible future EPD development.