Gabriela Benveniste
@irec.cat
Scopus Publications
- Environmental mapping of Smart Grids: A systematic review of their environmental coverage and implications for LCA
Mikel Fadul-Bonamusa, Isabella Bulfaro, Anna Sánchez Ballesta, Josh Eichman, Víctor José Ferreira, Albert Farriol Salas, Beatriz Amante García, Gabriela Benveniste Pérez
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 2026
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy transition goals focus on decentralizing renewable electricity and electrifying fossil-fuel-dependent sectors. This makes Smart Grids (SGs) essential for a lower-carbon energy sector. Previous literature reviews have sought to capture the environmental benefits these systems would bring by estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions during their use phase. This study assesses which parts of the system have been environmentally assessed, and to what extent and which have not. Results show an overrepresentation of households with smart meters and PV panels relative to the diversity of devices, technologies and domains that SG comprise. These findings indicate that research in this field is still in its early stages, although more sophisticated analyses are found in studies for EV charging strategies. The proportion of GHG emissions accounted for by infrastructure varies widely depending on the system under consideration, although it always represents a significant percentage. Moreover, they dominate other impact categories that are often not considered when estimating SG’s environmental footprint, raising concerns about burden-shifting. To advance this field of research, it is necessary to push for more electronic and energy-related inventories, explore additional domains, and increase the complexity of studies to account for dynamic factors such as consumer behaviour and economic trends. - Operationalisation of eco-design through performance-based life cycle assessment of a cobalt-free NMA lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles
Anna Sánchez, Tomás Montes, Maite Etxandi-Santolaya, Lluís Trilla, Gabriela Benveniste, Víctor José Ferreira
Journal of Power Sources, 2026 - Environmental, economic, and social impacts of methane cracking for hydrogen production: A comprehensive review
Isabella Bulfaro, Anna Sánchez, Gabriela Benveniste, Beatriz Amante García, Víctor José Ferreira
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2025
Methane cracking (MC) is emerging as a low-carbon hydrogen production technology. This review conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 46 studies examining the sustainability of MC process. The review employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodologies. The findings reveal that LCOH for MC technologies ranges from 0.9 to 6.6 $/kg H 2 , at the same time, GHG emissions span 0.8–14.5 kg CO 2 eq/kg H 2 , depending on the specific reactor configurations, plant geographical locations, and carbon revenues. These results indicate that MC can be competitive with steam methane reforming with carbon capture and electrolysis under certain conditions. However, the review identifies significant research gaps, including limited comprehensive LCA studies, a lack of social impact assessments, insufficient environmental impact analysis of molten media catalysts and particulate matter formation in MC processes, as well as insufficient analysis of the potential of biomethane cracking. - Methodology for social life cycle impact assessment enhanced with gender aspects applied to electric vehicle Li-ion batteries
Anna Sánchez, Gabriela Benveniste, Víctor José Ferreira, Isabella Bulfaro, Lucia Igualada, Cristina Corchero
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2025
Purpose The objective of this study is to assess the potential social risks and benefits of EV Li-ion batteries by combining the S-LCA framework with gender aspects throughout all the life cycle phases of the battery. Methods The social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology has been applied to determine social concerns about a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack design for electric vehicles (EVs) from cradle to grave. A questionnaire based on UNEP S-LCA guidelines and literature case studies of S-LCA on batteries and the energy industry has been prepared for each of the stakeholder categories and distributed among experts in the Li-ion battery sector (more than 21 industrial and academic experts representing the whole battery value chain). Furthermore, the social assessment also includes updated gender aspects to provide wider and more comprehensive social impacts to ensure a gender-neutral approach. Results and discussion The Li-ion battery presents a positive social impact in all the stakeholder categories evaluated, where the worker category has the best social performance driven by the highest score (scores range from 0 to 1, where 0 is the worst social performance and 1 is the best) in 13 indicators out of 23. Furthermore, local community, consumers, and society categories have a good social performance attributed to the absence of involuntary resettlement of individuals, the possibility of the product being reused for other purposes and technology accessible and affordable to developing countries, among others. Four out of seven indicators to evaluate the gender aspects and impacts have the highest score, demonstrating a commitment to fostering an inclusive and equitable work environment. The end-of-life phase presents a positive social performance with a score of 0.77 out of 1 attributed to the presence of infrastructure to dispose of product components other than landfill and incineration responsibly, the possibility of the product to be reused for other purposes and clear information provided to consumers on end-of-life options, among others. Conclusions The study presents generally good social impact and gender neutrality on the battery pack design. It gives an insight into the actual status of Li-ion battery social and gender impacts, and the results can be useful to policymakers to design and implement strategies for the welfare of various stakeholders. - Towards to Battery Digital Passport: Reviewing Regulations and Standards for Second-Life Batteries
Carlos Antônio Rufino Júnior, Eleonora Riva Sanseverino, Pierluigi Gallo, Daniel Koch, Sergej Diel, Gero Walter, Lluís Trilla, Víctor J. Ferreira, Gabriela Benveniste Pérez, Yash Kotak, Josh Eichman, Hans-Georg Schweiger, Hudson Zanin
Batteries, 2024
Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation harm the environment. In response to these environmental concerns, numerous countries encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) as a more environmentally friendly option than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. Advances in battery technology have made batteries an alternative solution for energy storage in stationary applications and for electric mobility. Reduced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) production costs due to economies of scale, electrode material and cell design developments, and manufacturing process improvements have driven this success. This trend is expected to increase the number of LIBs on the market that may be discarded in the environment at the end of their useful life if more sustainable alternatives are not technologically mature. This coming environmental concern can be mitigated by collecting wasted EV batteries, reconfiguring them, and reusing them for applications with less stringent weight, performance, and size requirements. This method would extend battery life and reduce environmental effects. The present work investigates the main regulatory structures of the second-life battery industry that require rules, technical standards, and laws. To achieve this objective, a systematic review was carried out following a strict protocol that includes identifying relevant studies, extracting data and information, evaluating, and summarizing information. This paper explains the primary rules and technical standards governing the second-life battery business. The findings highlight the need for universities, research institutions, and government agencies to evaluate the second-life battery industry objectively. This would enable the creation of new technological regulations and laws for this burgeoning industry. - Exploring the Viability of Local Electricity Markets for Managing Congestion in Spanish Distribution Networks
Fernando García-Muñoz, Mariana Jiménez-Martínez, Josh Eichman, Cristina Corchero, Gabriela Benveniste
Energies, 2024
This article presents the methodology and results developed as part of the Integration of Energy Resources through Local Electricity Markets (IREMEL) project, whose aim is to assess the capability of flexibility markets to manage eventual distribution network (DN) congestion produced by a high penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), including photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery energy storage systems (BESSs), and electric vehicles (EVs). The distribution system simulator OpenDSS has been used to simulate three Spanish DNs under multiple DER penetration scenarios considering an urban and rural low-voltage network and an industrial medium-voltage DN. Likewise, the congestion events detected in the annual simulations have been used to measure the potential of flexibility markets under different DER penetrations and energy pricing. The results suggest that oversized distribution networks could prevent a profitable flexibility market implementation since the simulations developed in this article shows that networks with high congestion levels are prime candidates to solve this issue through a market mechanism. Likewise, the results suggest that a proper price for the energy managed through a local flexibility market (LFM) could have a bigger effect on market viability than DER penetration. - A holistic tool to assess the cost and environmental performance of floating offshore wind farms
Victor J. Ferreira, Gabriela Benveniste, José I. Rapha, Cristina Corchero, Jose Luis Domínguez-García
Renewable Energy, 2023 - Comparative life cycle assessment of Li-Sulphur and Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles
Gabriela Benveniste, Anna Sánchez, Hector Rallo, Cristina Corchero, Beatriz Amante
Resources Conservation and Recycling Advances, 2022
Nowadays, most of the electric vehicles (EVs) are powered by Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries due to their high energy density, higher power density and degree of development relative to other battery technologies. As Li-ion technology evolves and the EVs fleet increases, it is important to understand the environmental impacts of mass-producing the battery packs for EVs. However, with 80-150 Wh/kg energy density, current Li-ion batteries are not able to power the EVs for a comparable driving range with conventional vehicles. Lithium-sulphur (Li-S) batteries have emerged as promising battery technology, with a higher theoretical capacity and energy density than Li-ion batteries used today. Moreover, Li-S batteries presumably present a lower environmental profile due to their chemical composition compared to Li-ion ones. To verify this statement, this study performs a life cycle assessment (LCA) of Li-S battery cells (under industrial development at the moment) that have been scaled up accordingly to estimate their performance as a battery for EVs. This comparison will provide the impact of each battery and the potential benefits in terms of environmental impact indicator values of the Li-S technology. The impacts of the Li-S battery are compared with those of a Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NCM) battery under the same driving distance. The environmental impact assessment results show that Li-S batteries present a most favourable environmental profile compared to NCM batteries, especially in the natural resource depletion categories where the Li-S battery has 70%-90% lower values compared to the Li-ion one. - Economic analysis of the disassembling activities to the reuse of electric vehicles Li-ion batteries
H. Rallo, G. Benveniste, I. Gestoso, B. Amante
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2020 - Life cycle assessment of power-to-gas applications via co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O
Rachel Sadok, Gabriela Benveniste, Ligang Wang, Julie Clavreul, Aymeric Brunot, Julie Cren, Mathilde Jegoux, Anke Hagen
Jphys Energy, 2020
Solid-oxide electrolysis technology (SOEC) can efficiently convert electricity from renewable sources into H2 via steam electrolysis, or syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO2) via co-electrolysis of steam and CO2. Co-SOEC provides the advantage of better thermal integration for standalone applications or with other industrial processes. In this paper two promising cases are investigated from the perspective of life-cycle assessment to evaluate the potential of reducing carbon emissions: (1) coupling co-SOEC with a cement plant, and (2) integrating co-SOEC into a biomass gasification plant. Life cycle assessment was performed based on the collection of comprehensive information regarding the electricity sources for different scenarios and a sensitivity analysis was included to verify the consistency of the results. The results show that in both cases the co-electrolysis system can be beneficial in terms of reduction of global warming potential, although it depends heavily on the geographic location and on the share of renewable energy. The highest benefits among the cases reviewed were found in the case of a coal-fed cement plant, where annual CO2 savings reached up to 2.39E + 05 tonnes CO2-eq in France with 23.6% of the electricity provided by photovoltaics (PV). In Germany, on the other hand, both cases first show benefits when the renewable share reaches a very high percentage of the electricity input: 50% provided by PV for the case of the cement plant and 82% for the case of a biomass-gasification unit. Since electricity input is the main impact concerning power-to-gas applications, the carbon content of the electricity grid mix is very important. As grid mixes become ‘cleaner’ in the future with more renewable share in the electricity generation in every country, the investigated applications are expected to provide even higher benefits. - The effects of lithium sulfur battery ageing on second-life possibilities and environmental life cycle assessment studies
Deidre Wolff, Lluc Canals Casals, Gabriela Benveniste, Cristina Corchero, Lluís Trilla
Energies, 2019 - Sensitivity analysis on the levelized cost of energy for floating offshore wind farms
Markus Lerch, Mikel De-Prada-Gil, Climent Molins, Gabriela Benveniste
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 2018 - Comparison of the state of Lithium-Sulphur and lithium-ion batteries applied to electromobility
G. Benveniste, H. Rallo, L. Canals Casals, A. Merino, B. Amante
Journal of Environmental Management, 2018 - Life cycle assessment of spectrally tunable light engines
Gabriela Benveniste, Mariano Perálvarez, Jorge Higuera, Josep Carreras
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2018 - Water issues and electric vehicles - Key aspects and examples in life cycle assessment
31st International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition Evs 2018 and International Electric Vehicle Technology Conference 2018 Evtec 2018, 2018 - Life Cycle Assessment of microtubular solid oxide fuel cell based auxiliary power unit systems for recreational vehicles
Gabriela Benveniste, Martina Pucciarelli, Marc Torrell, Michaela Kendall, Albert Tarancón
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017 - Challenges of battery electric busses - Assessment of demonstration activities in the IEA technology collaboration program on hybrid&electric vehicles
Evs 2017 30th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition, 2017 - Life-cycle based environmental effects of 1.3 Mio. Electric vehicles on the road in 35 countries - Facts & figures from the IEA technology collaboration program on hybrid & electric vehicles
Evs 2017 30th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition, 2017 - Life-Cycle Assessment Comparison between 15-MW Second-Generation High temperature Superconductor and Permanent-Magnet Direct-Drive Synchronous Generators for Offshore Wind Energy Applications
Joaquim Lloberas-Valls, Gabriela Benveniste Perez, Oriol Gomis-Bellmunt
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 2015 - Unresolved issues in the accounting of biogenic carbon exchanges in the wine sector
Ioannis Arzoumanidis, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Andrea Raggi, Cristina Gazulla, Marco Raugei, Gabriela Benveniste, Marta Anglada
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2014 - Life cycle assessment and product category rules for the construction sector. The floor and wall tiles sector case study
G. Benveniste, C. Gazulla, P. Fullana, I. Celades, T. Ros, V. Zaera, B. Godes
Informes De La Construccion, 2011 - Simplified tools for global warming potential evaluation: When 'good enough' is best
Alba Bala, Marco Raugei, Gabriela Benveniste, Cristina Gazulla, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2010 - Environment and Safety
Massimo Perucca, Gabriela Benveniste
Plasma Technology for Hyperfunctional Surfaces Food Biomedical and Textile Applications, 2010
