U N C O V E R I N G T H E L A Y E R S
Dr Roshene McCool
estimates the raw material impact to be 15 – 20 % of the overall CF .
A Cradle-to-Grave analysis was also carried out to understand the impacts of the entire life cycle . This analysis expands the boundaries to consider distribution and End-of-Life , where recyclability and other concepts of circularity play a key role . The Cradle-to-Grave analysis also confirmed that electricity and raw materials in the manufacturing stage are the main hotspots .
Raw material impact
Corning requires highly pure raw materials to produce low attenuation ( low loss ) optical fibres . These include silica or doped silica glass , protective acrylate coatings and other auxiliaries .
Results from Corning ’ s LCA study indicate that raw materials contribute between 15 % to 20 % of the total CF of optical fibre , with 50 % of this impact attributed to the silica glass precursor used in the chemical vapor deposition process and 40 % attributed to the acrylate coating .
In general , for an optical fibre with smaller coating diameter , less coating material is needed , resulting in a lower CF of the fibre . In fact , the LCA confirmed that the raw material CF of a 125 μm glass diameter and 190 μm in coating diameter fibre is 17 % less than the raw material CF of the standard 242 μm coating diameter fibre with similar glass diameter . This represents a 3 % reduction in overall CF between the two fibre types . As industry trends continue to drive towards increased density , reduced coating diameter fibres result in a favourable impact in both fibre and cable CF .
Manufacturing impact and contribution of electricity
Upstream impact of materials is an important part of Cradle-to-Gate studies , but it does not consider the whole picture . The utilities required to convert those materials into the final product , optical fibre , were also included in the LCA . Fibre production is an electricity-intensive process . Process water , thermal energy and waste have a negligible impact compared to the electricity requirements for manufacturing optical fibre and to the raw materials previously discussed .
Corning ’ s LCA study uses data from relevant factories , which use electricity from the standard grid mix . Since electricity impacts 70 – 80 % of the total optical fibre CF , the value of continued
Dr Ing . Constantin Herrmann
energy efficiency efforts and a greener electricity mix is clear . The impact of renewable electricity was studied and the LCA confirms that CF can decrease by up to 70 %, leading to a 0.70 kg CO 2eq / km value , further improving the current CF advantage over copperbased networks by a factor of 3 . High-performance fibres with reduced coating diameters like Corning ’ s SMF-28 Contour optical fibre portfolio enable increased cable and duct density while reducing size and materials in cables and solutions . This poses yet another opportunity for further improvements in optical fibre CF . As the impact of raw material is reduced , the fraction of contribution from electricity increases , with conversion to renewable electricity providing an opportunity to significantly reduce cable ’ s CF .
The future is fibre
The world depends on data more than ever and optical fibre has demonstrated superior capabilities over all other
Amalia Diaz
alternatives , offering massive capacity that expands the bandwidth of human potential while reducing power consumption and embodied carbon .
The industry must scale in a sustainable way and optical fibre offers the best pathway from an economic , environmental and social aspect . Compared to copperbased networks , optical fibre reduces energy consumption by up to 54 %, reduces operational costs due to lower maintenance requirements and offers high-performance and high reliability that lasts a lifetime . Optical fibre also provides an opportunity to reduce embodied carbon by at least 85,000x when considering the materials and processes needed to achieve the same transmission capacity over the same reach in a copper network . This improvement potentially increases by a factor of three when 100 % implementation of renewable electricity in optical fibre manufacturing is achieved .
Looking a decade ahead , the IT industry has a tremendous opportunity to move the world forward – by connecting the unconnected and building out the cloud to serve the data demands of tomorrow . Making sustainable choices , quantified by industry-recognised and transparent studies , is our responsibility . �
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