Wool grease, from 20µm wool {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U

Unit process Australia v00.00.001

This dataset represents the production of 1kg scoured wool. Australian wool is typically scoured in China, so this dataset starts with the transport of greasy wool from Australian port to China, and ends at the wool scourer gate. The included activities are: transport of Australian greasy wool to Chinese wool scourer (shipping and road transport), scouring, combing and baling. Documentation for this dataset can be found in the 'LCAgMetrics Methodology for developing Life Cycle Inventory' report, available at https://agrifutures.com.au/ It was developed as part of the LCAgMetrics project, a partnership between Agrifutures Australia and Lifecycles, funded by the Australian Government's Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grant as part of the National Agriculture Traceability Grants Program. Production volume: 116355150 kg/yr Energy value wool: 23.47 MJ/kg HHV Energy value grease: 40.75 MJ/kg HHV LHV energy contents used for energy allocation Geography: Australia Technology level: Represents current practices Time period: 2016-2017 Record: Anna Boyden; Tel +61(0)394171190; email: office@lifecycles.com.au; company: Life Cycle Strategies; Country: AU Generator: Anna Boyden; Tel +61(0)394171190; email: office@lifecycles.com.au; company: Life Cycle Strategies; Country: AU

Sector
Other Materials
Contributor
—
Last updated
12 Oct 2026
Reference ID
403a9704-12b6-30b5-b9ae-22d7dcde42c5

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Documentation

Quantitative reference
Wool grease, from 20µm wool {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U
Sampling procedure
Data from (Wiedemann, 2018), representing eight wool scouring plants, predominantly in China and India. Primary data were collected over a 12-month period in 2016 and 2017. Transport has been added separately.
Creation date
16 May 2025
Is copyright protected
No
Is infrastructure process
No
Tags
material
Sources
Australia Wool Grease Prices/2025/Wamucii S.
Environmental impacts associated with a woollen garment/2020/Wiedemann S. G.
Estimated impacts of wool production/2018/Wiedemann S.
Heat of combustion values for sheep protein and fat/1964/O. Paladines
Nanotechnological intervention in the wool composites/2016/T. D. Ngo
Overview of wool scouring/2009/E. Wood
Wool grease: Composition and specification/n.d./LanisLanolin
Wool market reports listing page/2024/AWI

Product outputs

Flow AmountUnitComment
Wool grease, from 20µm wool {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U 0.077 kg —

Technical inputs

Flow AmountUnitComment
Carbon correction factor {AU}| | AusLCI, U -0.01653127918364733 kg Allocation correction for grease - which is the only product for which biogenic carbon has been rebalanced in this inventory. For the other coproducts a subsequent balancing process is used.
Wool grease, from 20µm wool , biogenic C not balanced {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U 0.077 kg (2,3,3,3,1,na)

Parameters

NameValueFormulaDescription
alloc_eco_wool 94.44982974175429 100*(yield_wool*price_wool)/total_value [%]
BioC_alloc_wool 0.5513981060323615 greasyWool_input*DM_wool*CC_wool*alloc_wool/100 Biogenic carbon allocated to woolcuts in kg C.
BioC_all_corr_grease -0.01653127918364733 BioC_Actual_grease-BioC_alloc_grease This is the correction to the biogenic carbon required to balance the biogenic carbon for grease in kg C.
FR_wool 0.7194244604316548 yield_wool/greasyWool_input fraction of greasy wool input that is clean wool
energy_wool 21.7 — (2,na,na,na,1,na)[MJ/kg] LHV. Value obtained from (Paladines, 1964) as HHV, and converted to LHV based on moisture content of 16% (Wood, 2009) and hydrogen content of 7% (Ngo, 2016)
alloc_wool 94.44982974175429 iff(alloc_switch=0;alloc_eco_wool;iff(alloc_switch=1;alloc_mass_wool;alloc_energy_wool)) —
total_mass 1.077 yield_wool+yield_grease [kg]
DM_wool 0.84 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)
CC_grease 0.8 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)
yield_grease 0.077 — (2,3,3,3,1,na)
CC_greasywool 0.5 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)
bioC_Outputs 0.3442589928057554 (FR_Wool*CC_Wool*DM_Wool+FR_Grease*CC_Grease*DM_Grease) Total biogenic material exported from the process in kg C
DM_greasywool 0.95 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)
alloc_grease 5.550170258245719 iff(alloc_switch=0;alloc_eco_grease;iff(alloc_switch=1;alloc_mass_grease;alloc_energy_grease)) —
energy_grease 38.0 — (2,na,na,na,1,na)[MJ/kg] LHV. Value obtained from (Paladines, 1964) as HHV, and converted to LHV based on moisture content of 5% (LanisLanolin, n.d.) and hydrogen content of 13% (stoichiometrical calculation assuming chemical formula of C34H68O2)
alloc_mass_grease 7.149489322191273 100*yield_grease/total_mass [%]
FR_grease 0.055395683453237414 yield_grease/greasyWool_input fraction of greasy wool input that is grease
price_wool 15.2 — (1,1,1,1,1,na)[$AUD/kg] Source: (AWI, 2024)
alloc_switch — — 0: economic; 1: mass; 2: energy
BioC_Inputs 0.6602499999999999 greasyWool_input*DM_GreasyWool*CC_GreasyWool kg biogenic carbon imported in with input animals
DM_grease 0.95 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)
greasyWool_input 1.39 — (2,3,3,3,1,na) [kg]
alloc_eco_grease 5.550170258245719 100*(yield_grease*price_grease)/total_value [%]
total_energy 24.625999999999998 (yield_wool*energy_wool)+(yield_grease*energy_grease) [MJ]
BioC_Actual_wool 0.302158273381295 FR_Wool*CC_wool*DM_wool The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to wool in kg C.
yield_wool 1.0 — (2,3,3,3,1,na)
dist_CNPortToScourer 210.0 — (na,1,1,1,na,na)[km] Average of distance from Port of Shanghai to two scouring hubs in China (Tongxiang and Zhangjiagang) via Google Maps
BioC_Actual_grease 0.042100719424460434 FR_grease*CC_grease*DM_grease The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to grease in kg C.
alloc_mass_wool 92.85051067780873 100*yield_wool/total_mass [%]
alloc_energy_grease 11.88175099488346 100*(yield_grease*energy_grease)/total_energy [%]
dist_AUtoCN 8590.0 — (na,1,1,1,na,na)[km] Source: Sea-distances.org (2025) Distance from Botany Bay to Port of Shanghai (4368 nautical miles = 8590 km) accessed 8/7/25. Port of Shanghai chosen as highest wool scouring regions are close by
alloc_energy_wool 88.11824900511655 100*(yield_wool*energy_wool)/total_energy [%]
total_value 16.0932 (yield_wool*price_wool)+(yield_grease*price_grease) [$AUD]
packaging_mass 0.008426966292134831 1.5/178 [kg Nylon per kg wool] 1.5kg Nylon packs for 178kg wool (Wiedemann, 2020)
BioC_balance 0.3159910071942445 BioC_inputs-BioC_outputs Current balance between biogenic carbon inputs less biogenic carbon outputs in kg C.
BioC_alloc_grease 0.05863199860810776 greasyWool_input*DM_grease*CC_grease*alloc_grease/100 Biogenic carbon allocated to grease in kg C.
price_grease 11.6 — (1,1,1,1,1,na)[$AUD/kg] Source: (Selina Wamucii, 2025). Average of range given for wholesale price in USD and converted to AUD.
BioC_all_corr_wool -0.24923983265106653 BioC_Actual_Wool-BioC_alloc_wool This is the correction to the biogenic carbon required to balance the biogenic carbon for wool in kg C.
CC_wool 0.5 — (2,3,1,1,1,na)