Life Cycle Thinking and Ecodesign to improve the environmental sustainability and circularity of an electromagnetic pump for chemical dosing

The current environmental crisis is pushing the European manufacturing sector towards the adoption of more circular and sustainable business models, supported by environmental policies such as the recent Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). This contribution assesses the environmental impacts of an electromagnetic dosing pump and derives ecodesign guidelines from these to improve the environmental performance and circularity of the product, in line with emerging EU requirements. The study applies a Life Cycle Thinking approach, supported by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and ecodesign strategies, to an electromagnetic dosing pump manufactured by EMEC Pumps, an Italian company highly specialized in water treatment and chemical dosing technologies. Through collaboration with EcodesignLab S.r.l., a “cradle-to-gate” LCA was developed based on primary industrial data, using the EF 3.0 method and focusing on climate change hotspots in the product architecture. The analysis highlights components made from high-impact materials, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), with a contribution of approximately 50.7 kg CO₂-eq, and subassemblies containing electronic components with critical raw materials, with a contribution of approximately 16.2 kg CO₂-eq. Based on these results, the article defines ecodesign guidelines to increase the product’s environmental performance and optimize its circularity, and we show how the LCA results can be translated into design decisions that align with emerging European circularity requirements.