Database export · ILCD
Export ILCD files
Save a loaded LCA database as an ILCD ZIP with process, flow, and unit datasets. Choose this destination when your next workflow needs ILCD.
What is ILCD?
ILCD (International Reference Life Cycle Data System) is an XML-based format developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre. It links process datasets to separate flow, flow-property, and unit-group datasets.
What you get
A ZIP archive containing processes/, flows/, flowproperties/, and unitgroups/. Each activity and reference-product pair becomes a process dataset.
Export value: ilcd
Start with a loaded database
Import and load your source database on a running VoLCA server first. Uploading a file alone is not enough. Replace my-database with the loaded database name.
Review load warnings and supplier dependencies before exporting. Only export and share data your license allows you to use.
Choose an import path →Save the database to a file
These CLI and Python examples address your running server. Smoke checks used VoLCA v0.12.0 and pyvolca 0.11.0 with a synthetic single-product database. All five CLI file-generation operations completed. openpyxl exposed an OOXML manifest defect in the v0.12.0 Brightway file; merged PR #396 adds the missing package parts, and the resulting workbook opened successfully with openpyxl. Other formats were not import-tested in receiving applications. File generation does not establish metadata fidelity, supplier-link fidelity, or acceptance by another application.
CLI
volca --config volca.toml --url http://localhost:8080 database export my-database \
--format ilcd --out database-ilcd.zipUse your existing volca.toml configuration and credentials. Replace the local URL with your server address.
Python
from volca import Client
client = Client("http://localhost:8080")
client.export_to_file("ilcd", "database-ilcd.zip",
db_name="my-database")Install pyvolca, replace the local server URL, and supply credentials when required. Choose a new output filename to avoid replacing an existing file.
What the writer carries forward
The writer carries process names, locations, classifications, exchange directions and amounts, flow definitions, and unit references from the loaded database.
Exports are written from VoLCA's loaded data model. They are not copies of the original source files.
Limits to check before using the file
Multi-output activities become separate, unlinked process datasets, with an explicit grouping warning. This ILCD profile does not emit activity descriptions, synonyms, parameters, allocation, or pedigree data. It is a process database export, not an ILCD LCIA method package.
Review export warnings and errors. A file being written does not establish target-software compatibility, successful supplier linking, or equivalent LCIA results. Import and verify a compatible LCIA method separately.
Read the writer source →A measured Agribalyse export example
The historical VoLCA v0.9.1 run exported Agribalyse to ILCD, EcoSpold 1, and EcoSpold 2 and checked file structure, counts, and checksums. Its files were not re-imported into target software, and LCIA equivalence was not established. Those measurements do not describe a current-release test.
Read the measured example and its limits →Frequently asked questions
Does ILCD keep the original multi-output grouping?
No. Products from a multi-output activity become separate, unlinked process datasets. VoLCA reports this approximation as an export warning.