Process templates
The 214 pre-built parametric process blueprints, spanning all seven industries — the heart of how FreeLCA makes LCA fast. Each one is literature-cited and held to a published benchmark band by the test suite, and every driver is yours to override.
What's in a template
{
code: "WW_CAS_V1",
category: "wastewater_train",
name: "Conventional Activated Sludge",
drivers: [
{ key: "design_flow_mgd", label: "Design flow", unit: "MGD", default: 5 },
{ key: "influent_tn_mg_l", label: "Influent TN", unit: "mg/L", default: 40 },
...
],
flows: [
{
flowName: "Electricity, grid",
substance: "electricity",
compartment: "resource",
phase: "operation",
unit: "kWh/yr",
expr: "drivers.aeration_kwh_per_mg * drivers.design_flow_mgd * 365"
},
{
flowName: "N₂O, direct biological",
substance: "N2O",
compartment: "air",
phase: "operation",
unit: "kg/yr",
expr: "drivers.design_flow_mgd * helpers.MGD_TO_M3PERYR * drivers.influent_tn_mg_l * 1e-3 * drivers.n2o_fraction_of_tn * (44/28)"
},
...
],
citations: [...]
}Sandboxed expression evaluation
Flow expressions reference drivers.<key> and helpers.<key>. We use expr-eval with logical and comparison operators disabled — no eval(), no JS injection. Available helpers include MGD_TO_M3PERYR, FT_TO_M, PUMP_POWER_KW(q_m3s, tdh_m, eta_pump, eta_motor), and others.
Industries & categories
Templates are scoped to an industry, and a project draws from its industry's catalog plus the shared cross-cutting library. Water & Wastewater is the deepest catalog today; the other six sectors ship a focused, literature-validated set each.
- Water & Wastewater — wastewater trains (CAS, MBR, SBR, oxidation ditch, MBBR, A2O, IFAS, trickling, lagoons, ANAMMOX, Bardenpho, AGS, ANMBR, RBC, wetlands, septic, ...), drinking-water trains (conventional, MF, UF, NF, RO, GAC, IX, lime softening, AOP, ozone+biofilter, EDR, CDI, ...), disinfection (Cl₂, on-site NaOCl, chloramine, ClO₂, UV, UV LED, ozone, PAA), solids/biosolids (AD, THP, drying, composting, incineration, pyrolysis, HTL, land application, ...), resource recovery, tertiary, and pumping & aeration.
- Energy & Power — utility & rooftop solar PV, onshore & offshore wind, natural-gas combined-cycle & peaker, coal, nuclear, hydro, geothermal, biomass, and battery storage, reported per MWh.
- Transportation & Fleet — passenger gasoline / hybrid / battery-electric, heavy diesel / electric / CNG trucks, transit buses, rail, and marine freight, per km / tonne-km / passenger-km.
- Waste & Recycling — landfill (with/without gas capture), waste-to-energy, windrow & in-vessel composting, anaerobic digestion, MRF sorting, and material recycling, per tonne managed with avoided-burden credits.
- Packaging — PET, glass, aluminium, steel, HDPE, and carton formats, by recycled content and end-of-life route, per package.
- Buildings & Construction — office, multifamily, single-family, warehouse, school, and retail archetypes with embodied + operational carbon over the service life (EN 15978), per m²·yr.
- Food & Agriculture — beef, dairy, pork, poultry, and staple & produce crops including tofu/soy, with enteric CH₄, fertiliser N₂O, land, and water, per kg or per serving.
- Cross-cutting (shared by every industry) — grid electricity, on-site generators & CHP, hauling & fleet legs, embodied steel/concrete/aluminium/plastics, HVAC, transformers, and other facility utilities, so a hauling leg or a kWh is the same vetted factor wherever it's used.
Adding your own
Custom organizational templates are on the roadmap. In the meantime you can add a custom inventory item (no template), enter the drivers and computed flows manually, and the LCIA engine treats it identically to a templated one.