Workflow for Publishing 

Forestry LCI Data through 

the LCA Commons

A Case Study

Shaobo Liang

Richard Bergman

Hongmei Gu

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest

Service

Forest Products

Laboratory

Research Note

FPL–RN–0364

October

2018
Abstract

The USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL) maintains 

the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Commons, an openaccess data repository. The LCA Commons supports 

the Federal LCA research community to advance LCA 

research through collaboration on matters of data transfer 

and access. NAL and USDA Forest Service (USFS) are 

collaborating to develop a consistent and repeatable 

workflow to systematically provide public access to lifecycle inventory (LCI) data for forestry and forest-based 

products. The workflow, which includes modeling, format 

conversion, and publication through the LCA Commons, 

must be demonstrated and documented so that researchers 

supporting the USFS LCA mission can publish data 

sets through the LCA Commons. NAL and USFS have 

collaborated to publish two unit processes for a distributed 

renewable energy production system, which NAL compiled 

into a product system model and published as a proof of 

concept for publishing a forestry data set. This proof of 

concept illustrates the scope of work required to efficiently 

publish data sets and assuring good data fidelity, and the 

functionality required of a full development-to-publication 

workflow. The proposed workflow document will become a 

standard reference for forestry LCI data submissions for the 

Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in the future.

Keywords: life cycle inventory, LCI, database, 

LCA Commons

October 2018

Liang, Shaobo; Bergman, Richard; Gu, Hongmei. 2018. Workflow 

for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA Commons: A case 

study. Research Note FPL-RN-0364. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 4 p.

A limited number of free copies of this publication are available to the 

public from the Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, 

Madison, WI 53726-2398. This publication is also available online at 

www.fpl.fs.fed.us. Laboratory publications are sent to hundreds of libraries 

in the United States and elsewhere.

The Forest Products Laboratory is maintained in cooperation with the 

University of Wisconsin. 

The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not imply endorsement by the United States Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) of any product or service.

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offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national 

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Shaobo Liang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Richard Bergman, Project Leader

Hongmei Gu, Research Forest Products Technologist

USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Workflow for Publishing Forestry LCI Data 

through the LCA Commons

A Case Study

Introduction

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Commons (https://www.

lcacommons.gov/) is an open, digital data repository hosted 

by the USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL). NAL 

is partnering with several federal agencies that maintain 

LCA programs, including the USDA Forest Service 

(USFS) Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), to provide 

public access to Federal LCA research data sets. This 

“Federal LCA Commons” team is committed to building 

capacity for life-cycle thinking nationally and globally and 

is dedicated to providing open access to U.S. government 

data sets and products through the LCA Commons. The 

Federal LCA Commons is a collaborative initiative among 

subject-matter experts from several U.S. government 

departments and agencies, including the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency; U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

National Agricultural Library and U.S. Forest Service; 

the Department of Energy supported by the National 

Energy Technology Laboratory, the National Renewable 

Energy Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory; the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense; the Federal Highway 

Administration; and the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology. The Federal LCA Commons mission is to 

(1) advance LCA data, research, and information systems; 

(2) enhance modeling methods consistency; and (3) increase 

public access to life-cycle inventory (LCI) data. As for 

the FPL, we aim to build an internal standard workflow 

to illustrate how to submit forestry LCI data into the LCA 

Commons.

The objective of the LCA Commons program is to publish 

data sets suitable for reuse as secondary data. Data sets 

provided to the LCA Commons must be sufficiently 

documented to communicate the originally intended goal 

and scope to a secondary user (Arbuckle and others 2017). 

The ability to determine fitness-for-purpose of a data set 

related to a new research question is vital to ensure reliable 

results and analysis of an LCA. Thus, the data provider is 

responsible for fully documenting all models and data sets 

to be published in the LCA Commons, as well as verifying 

openLCA is calculating emissions and impacts as expected. 

The LCA Commons platform is structured upon the 

openLCA data model. Data providers are required to prepare 

data sets in openLCA prior to submission. openLCA is 

an open source LCA software developed by GreenDelta 

(Berlin, Germany) (http://www.openlca.org/). Data sets 

can be transferred to NAL directly from the openLCA user 

interface. Modelers working in SimaPro (PRé Sustainability, 

Amersfoort, The Netherlands), GaBi (thinkstep Global, 

Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany), and other commercial 

software must restructure, document, and verify models in 

openLCA before transferring data sets to NAL. 

Using a FPL distributed renewable syngas LCA product 

system as a case study, we describe the steps necessary 

to publish LCA data sets produced in SimaPro software 

to the LCA Commons (Anderson and others 2016). The 

FPL distributed syngas model is a simple representation of 

standard LCA datasets and is useful for illustrating the steps 

necessary to publish through the LCA Commons (Fig. 1). 

Additionally, a comprehensive step-by-step workflow for 

full LCA data sets with complete environmental inventory 

information that integrates seamlessly with other data sets 

submissions is currently a work in progress within the 

Federal LCA Commons.

Method

There are four major steps necessary to take this example 

data set from Simapro to publication: (1) SimaPro export, 

(2) model documentation and verification, (3) integration 

into openLCA, and (4) committing to NAL LCA 

Collaboration Server. 

Export LCI Data Set from SimaPro

In this case study, the “wood chip pyrolysis; Tucker 

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) thermochemical conversion 

process; at plant” and “whole tree chips, softwood, green, 

at sawmill, INW” have been modeled in SimaPro software 

v8.4 using USLCI database for upstream processes by FPL 

(Gu and Bergman 2016). Data sets are transferred between 

SimaPro and openLCA using a manual file exchange. The 
Research Note FPL–RN–0364

2

Figure 1. Forestry LCI data modeling and converting into LCA Commons: (a) wood chips production facility; 

(b) process modeling diagram; (c) openLCA framework; (d) LCA Commons website.

(a)

(d)

(b)

(c)
Workflow for Publishing Forestry LCI Data through the LCA Commons: A Case Study

3

pre-modeled LCI process data are exported and saved as 

EcoSpold v1 file selection in SimaPro (Goedkoop and 

others 2016). EcoSpold v1 is a data exchange format based 

on XML (Extensible Markup Language) used for LCI data 

and life-cycle impact assessment methods (Ecoinvent 2018).

Model Documentation and Verification in 

openLCA

Once the provider downloads the openLCA software, a new 

database may be created with complete reference data. Once 

the new database is created, the data sets, which now exists 

in EcoSpold v1, can be imported into the new database. 

Similarly, any impact methods used in the original analysis 

should be imported into the same database (Noi and others 

2017). The provider can now document the data set in the 

metadata fields provided by openLCA and verify that it is 

functioning properly in openLCA.

Model metadata such as process, flow, actor, source, and 

parameter should be filled using recommendations in 

the LCA Commons Submission Guidelines (NAL 2017). 

The LCA Commons Guidelines synthesize elements 

and definitions from ISO 14048 (ISO 2002) and the 

International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). 

In addition to metadata definitions, the guidelines include 

specifications for organizing datasets through naming 

and categorizing product systems, unit processes, flows, 

and background information. For example, the two 

submitted processes were classified under folder “ISIC 

2520 Manufacture of gas” and “ISIC 1610 Sawmilling and 

planning of wood,” respectively. 

Multiple Data Sets Integration into openLCA

Individual unit processes are linked together through the 

exchange of material, energy, and/or service flows into an 

integrated product system. The following steps introduce 

the connection of multiple related data sets into product 

system, for example, to connect the new “whole tree chips” 

unit process to the existing “wood chip pyrolysis” unit 

process followed by creating a syngas producing product 

system. In the LCA Commons, CUTOFFs are technosphere 

flows terminated without an upstream provider. In this case, 

we will replace this CUTOFF flow with a provider from a 

new unit process. The wood chip pyrolysis unit process is 

a recipient of the flow “CUTOFF whole-tree-chips...,” the 

whole tree chips unit process is a provider for “whole tree 

chips...,” and the task will be to merge these two within 

openLCA and build a product system.

To set up the openLCA database, (1) create a new database 

(with units and flow properties); (2) import wood chip 

pyrolysis unit process (in JSON-LD/ILCD format); and 

(3) import whole tree chips unit process (in JSON-LD/

ILCD format). Then merge the whole tree chips flow as 

follows: (1) work with openLCA’s “bulk-replace” feature 

(Window > bulk-replace > Flows); (2) in “Replace flows” 

select “CUTOFF whole-tree-chips, softwood, green, at 

sawmill, INW”; and (3) in “with” select “whole tree chips; 

softwood; at sawmill; INW” and select “Finish.” At this 

point, all instances of the CUTOFF flow have been replaced 

with the whole tree chips version of “whole tree chips...” 

everywhere it occurs in the database caveat emptor. Further, 

to build the product system, (1) open the “reference 

process,” in this case “wood chip pyrolysis”; (2) select 

“Create product system” in the “General information” tab 

of the unit process view; and (3) select “Add connected 

processes” and click finish. This will link the two process 

(and any other upstream processes with consistent flows as 

described above) into a new “product system.” 

Finally, export the product system as JSON-LD for your 

records. JSON-LD is the only format currently supported by 

LCA Commons. The product system provides a convenient 

publishable unit of all individual unit processes, the 

explicit connections between them all, and all the necessary 

dependencies to recreate the data set in a new instance of 

openLCA. 

Committing to the NAL LCA Collaboration 

Server

Submission to the LCA Commons is performed through 

the openLCA user interface. NAL staff will provide a URL 

to data providers with step-by-step instructions on how to 

commit data to an LCA Commons repository. Once a data 

set has been committed, staff at NAL reviews the data set 

for consistency with the documentation guidance and will 

contact the submitter directly if any changes are required. 

Upon acceptance for online publication, a DOI number 

will be available and the dataset is open to the public and 

downloadable (Gu and Bergman 2018).

Discussion

The steps presented for this proof-of-concept outline 

the basic procedure for preparing a SimaPro data set 

for publication in the LCA Commons. This procedure 

extends for full LCA data sets, with the exception of 

the management and treatment of environmental flows. 

Connecting new openLCA imports from SimaPro to 

openLCA’s standard impact methods requires additional 

hands-on work. Documentation and procedures for 

performing this curation is a current work in progress 

within the Federal LCA Commons. Additionally, as data 

sets increase in size, there is a proportional increase in 

the number of “bulk-replace” routines that will need to be 

performed to ensure that published data sets will connect 

to standard background data sets such as the USLCI and 

EcoInvent.

Summary

The forestry LCI data were successfully transformed and 

compiled in openLCA framework and submitted online 
Research Note FPL–RN–0364

4

to the publicly available database LCA Commons based 

on the guidelines and direct training services from NAL. 

The FPL team will use this experience to publish full LCA 

data sets and use the knowledge learned to develop a fully 

documented, step-by-step workflow for publishing data on 

the LCA Commons. This workflow will serve to aid our 

projects as well as other team members of the Federal LCA 

Commons for future project LCA data management needs.

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the National Institute of 

Food and Agriculture, Biomass Research and Development 

Initiative, grant no. 2011-10006-30357. The authors 

acknowledge the critical review comments from Peter 

Arbuckle and Ezra Kahn of USDA National Agricultural 

Library, Maureen Puettmann of CORRIM, and Sevda 

Alanya-Rosenbaum of USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

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