Wool grease, from 28µm 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: 13639275 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
c7280e35-b176-3e34-b129-87b56124cd7d
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Documentation
- Quantitative reference
- Wool grease, from 28µm 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 | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wool grease, from 28µm wool {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U | 0.077 | kg | — |
Technical inputs
| Flow | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon correction factor {AU}| | AusLCI, U | -0.10101286426782856 | 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 28µm wool , biogenic C not balanced {AU}| wool scouring | AusLCI, U | 0.077 | kg | (2,3,3,3,1,na) |
Parameters
| Name | Value | Formula | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| BioC_alloc_wool | 0.504710914275314 | greasyWool_input*DM_wool*CC_wool*alloc_wool/100 | Biogenic carbon allocated to woolcuts in kg C. |
| FR_grease | 0.055395683453237414 | yield_grease/greasyWool_input | fraction of greasy wool input that is grease |
| alloc_energy_grease | 11.88175099488346 | 100*(yield_grease*energy_grease)/total_energy | [%] |
| BioC_all_corr_grease | -0.10101286426782856 | 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. |
| alloc_mass_grease | 7.149489322191273 | 100*yield_grease/total_mass | [%] |
| alloc_energy_wool | 88.11824900511655 | 100*(yield_wool*energy_wool)/total_energy | [%] |
| alloc_grease | 13.547291148455983 | iff(alloc_switch=0;alloc_eco_grease;iff(alloc_switch=1;alloc_mass_grease;alloc_energy_grease)) | — |
| DM_wool | 0.84 | — | (2,3,1,1,1,na) |
| total_mass | 1.077 | yield_wool+yield_grease | [kg] |
| greasyWool_input | 1.39 | — | (2,3,3,3,1,na) [kg] |
| alloc_switch | — | — | 0: economic; 1: mass; 2: energy |
| total_value | 6.5932 | (yield_wool*price_wool)+(yield_grease*price_grease) | [$AUD] |
| CC_grease | 0.8 | — | (2,3,1,1,1,na) |
| packaging_mass | 0.008426966292134831 | 1.5/178 | [kg Nylon per kg wool] 1.5kg Nylon packs for 178kg wool (Wiedemann, 2020) |
| BioC_Inputs | 0.6602499999999999 | greasyWool_input*DM_GreasyWool*CC_GreasyWool | kg biogenic carbon imported in with input animals |
| CC_wool | 0.5 | — | (2,3,1,1,1,na) |
| BioC_balance | 0.3159910071942445 | BioC_inputs-BioC_outputs | Current balance between biogenic carbon inputs less biogenic carbon outputs in kg C. |
| alloc_eco_wool | 86.45270885154402 | 100*(yield_wool*price_wool)/total_value | [%] |
| yield_wool | 1.0 | — | (2,3,3,3,1,na) |
| alloc_wool | 86.45270885154402 | iff(alloc_switch=0;alloc_eco_wool;iff(alloc_switch=1;alloc_mass_wool;alloc_energy_wool)) | — |
| CC_greasywool | 0.5 | — | (2,3,1,1,1,na) |
| BioC_Actual_grease | 0.042100719424460434 | FR_grease*CC_grease*DM_grease | The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to grease in kg C. |
| BioC_alloc_grease | 0.143113583692289 | greasyWool_input*DM_grease*CC_grease*alloc_grease/100 | Biogenic carbon allocated to grease in kg C. |
| energy_wool | 21.7 | — | (2,na,na,na,1,na)[MJ/kg] LHV. Value obtained from (Paladines, 1964) as HHV, and converted to LHV based on moisture content of 16% (Wood, 2009) and hydrogen content of 7% (Ngo, 2016) |
| dist_AUtoCN | 8590.0 | — | (na,1,1,1,na,na)[km] Source: Sea-distances.org (2025) Distance from Botany Bay to Port of Shanghai (4368 nautical miles = 8590 km) accessed 8/7/25. Port of Shanghai chosen as highest wool scouring regions are close by |
| DM_greasywool | 0.95 | — | (2,3,1,1,1,na) |
| price_grease | 11.6 | — | (1,1,1,1,1,na)[$AUD/kg] Source: (Selina Wamucii, 2025). Average of range given for wholesale price in USD and converted to AUD. |
| price_wool | 5.7 | — | (1,1,1,1,1,na)[$AUD/kg] Source: (AWI, 2024) |
| alloc_eco_grease | 13.547291148455983 | 100*(yield_grease*price_grease)/total_value | [%] |
| BioC_all_corr_wool | -0.20255264089401903 | 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. |
| yield_grease | 0.077 | — | (2,3,3,3,1,na) |
| alloc_mass_wool | 92.85051067780873 | 100*yield_wool/total_mass | [%] |
| FR_wool | 0.7194244604316548 | yield_wool/greasyWool_input | fraction of greasy wool input that is clean wool |
| 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_wool | 0.302158273381295 | FR_Wool*CC_wool*DM_wool | The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to wool in kg C. |
| DM_grease | 0.95 | — | (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 |
| total_energy | 24.625999999999998 | (yield_wool*energy_wool)+(yield_grease*energy_grease) | [MJ] |