Life Cycle Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Natural Materials

Life Cycle Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Natural Materials explores the LCA of natural materials that are currently being utilized in product development. The book covers LCA theories, strategies, and current methodologies and presents the vital role that LCA plays in assessing the environmental impact of natural resources in different industries, including agriculture, mining, bio-based products, and textiles. It demonstrates how LCA can be used to steer the creation of environmentally-friendly products and to advance sustainability within the circular economy. In addition, the book demonstrates ways of incorporating LCA into everyday decision-making processes, with a particular emphasis on diverse industrial sectors.

It will be a valuable reference resource for all those who are concerned about the environmental safety and sustainability of natural materials that are used in the development of environmentally- friendly products. It will allow the reader to make well-informed decisions regarding natural resources to actively participate in environmentally-conscious practices.

• Provides an extensive analysis of LCA approaches and strategies, with a specific focus on natural materials across various industrial sectors
• Focuses on environmental, economic, and social aspects as well as sustainability and the transition challenges towards the circular economy
• Covers the whole product lifecycle, from procurement of raw materials to end-of-life
• Includes applications in construction, building, textiles, packaging, clothing, biomedical, insulation, and biomass industries

Dr. Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa is a Principal Research Scientist and Associate Professor at King Mongkut 's University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand. He also serves as an Advisor within the President' s Office for University Promotion and Development towards International goals. Dr. Rangappa is the Executive Editor of Book Cluster: Fiber Science and Fibrous Composite Materials ( Elsevier), a former Associate Editor of Heliyon (Materials Science), and an Associate Editor of Frontier Materials Journals. He acts as a Board Member and Editor for various international journals in materials science and composites. He has reviewed over 250 international journals, including for Nature, Elsevier, Springer, and Wiley, as well as book proposals and conference submissions. He has published more than 425 articles in top- tier peer- reviewed journals indexed by SCI/Scopus, 13 editorial issues, 100 book chapters, and 70 books as an Editor with leading publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley. Additionally, he authored 3 books published by Elsevier and has presented research at numerous national and international conferences. Over 25 of his articles are highly cited in journals like the Journal of Cleaner Production and Carbohydrate Polymers. Dr. Rangappa is the lead editor for several special issues and has a Google Scholar citation count exceeding 39, 000, with an H- index of 100 and An i 100- Index of 475. He holds 1 US Patent, 11 UK Design Patents, 1 Thailand Patent, and 5 Indian patents. He has delivered keynote and invited talks globally, including Russia, South Africa, Malaysia, and India. Currently, he is an Academic Visitor at The University of Portsmouth, UK (2024), with upcoming visiting positions at various Malaysian and Indonesian universities from 2024 to 2027. His research focuses on Natural fiber composites, Polymer Composites, and Advanced Material Technology. He received the ‘Top Peer Reviewer 2019’ award from Publons, and the KMUTNB ‘Outstanding Young Researcher’ (2020) and' Outstanding Researcher’ (2021) awards. Recognized as one of the top 1% most- cited scientists by Stanford University (2019-2025), he ranks 5th in Thailand overall and 2nd In the Polymers category for 2023. He is also listed among the ‘Top 100 Scientists’ in Thailand by AD Scientific Index.

Praveenkumara Jagadeesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University), Mysuru, India. He acts as an Editorial Board Member and an Associate Editor for established journals. He completed his Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) in Mechanical Engineering from Malnad College of Engineering, Hassan, under VTU, Belagavi, India, in the academic year 2014-2018. He completed a Master of Technology (M.Tech.) in Manufacturing Science and Engineering from the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, under Bangalore University, Bangalore, India, in the academic year 2018–2020. He obtained his Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.) at the Sirindhorn International Thai German Graduate School of Engineering (TGGS), King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Thailand. He has received the “KMUTNB Doctoral Research Scholarship” for international doctoral students as of the year from 28/Dec/2021 to 27/Dec/2024 under the Government of Thailand. He also completed his Postdoc from King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Thailand from 2024-2025. He is recognized among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier in the year 2025 in a single year citation impact. He is a Life Member of the International Association of Engineers (IAENG). He has published more than 33 articles in high-quality international peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters, and presented research papers at various national and international conferences. Based on Google Scholar he has more than 2900+ citations with an H-index of 25 and an i10-Index of 33. He is currently working on polymer composites, natural fiber composites, biopolymers, filler materials, the tribology of polymers, and additive manufacturing.

Dr. Madhu Puttegowda is currently working as an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Malnad College of Engineering, Hassan, Karnataka, India. He received his B.E (Mechanical Engineering) from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, India in 2011, and then went on to achieve his MTech in Product Design and Manufacturing and Ph.D. (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Science) from Visvesvaraya Technological University in 2020. His current research areas include natural fiber composites, polymer composites and advanced material technology.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Suchart Siengchin is a former President of King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok and currently serves as the Director of TechnoPark at the same university. He earned his Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Giessen/Friedberg, Germany in 1999, followed by an M.Sc. in Polymer Technology from the University of Applied Sciences Aalen in 2002, and another M.Sc. in Material Science from Erlangen-Nürnberg University in 2004. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering (Dr.-Ing.) from the Institute for Composite Materials at the University of Kaiserslautern in 2008, including postdoctoral research at Kaiserslautern University and Purdue University's School of Materials Engineering. In 2016, he received his habilitation from Chemnitz University in Saxony, Germany. In 2024, he was honored as an Honorary Fellow by RWTH Aachen University. He has also served as a Lecturer in Production and Material Engineering at the Sirindhorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering, KMUTNB, and has been a full Professor and President of KMUTNB. He received the Outstanding Researcher Award in 2010, 2012, and 2013 at KMUTNB. His research focuses on Polymer Processing and Composite Materials. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Applied Science and Engineering Progress, a Q1 indexed journal on Scopus, and has authored over 600 peer-reviewed journal articles, 15 editorial contributions, more than 100 book chapters, one authored book, and over 50 edited books. He has presented at more than 70 international and national conferences related to Materials Science and Engineering. Recognized as one of the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University for 2021- 2022, he received the National Excellence Researcher Award (Engineering and Research Industry) from Thailand's National Research Council in 2021, and has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2025 by Clarivate.