Assessing the Life Cycle Environmental and Economic Performance of Copper Slag Recycling

Abstract:

Industrial solid waste refers to all solid waste derived from industrial processes. Industrial solid waste, on the one hand, may lead to environmental risk and safety issue; on the other hand, contains valuable recyclable resources. Taking copper slag as a case study, the life cycle environmental and economic performance of recycling process were analyzed by using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing approaches. The functional unit was defined as the recycling of 1 ton of copper slag. The results showed that the process of production of cement after floatation was the optimal scenario for copper slag recycling, and its life cycle impact and life cycle cost were-67.22 Pt and-479.28 yuan, respectively. Specifically, the dominant environmental impact category of copper recycling process was respiratory (inorganic). In addition, raw material, fuel and power, equipment depreciation and transportation contributed to the life cycle cost in descending order of their proportion.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 878)
• Pages: 219-225
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.878.219
• Online since: January 2014
• Authors: Xiao Long Song, Jian Xin Yang, Jing Wei Wang, Wen Jie Wu
• Keywords: Copper Slag, Industrial Solid Waste, Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing, Recycling

References

[1] National Bureau of Statistics of China & Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Yearbook of Chinese Environmental Statistics (2012). China Statistics Press, Beijing, China, (2012).

DOI: 10.1163/9789004216877_021

[2] S. Lundie, G.M. Peters, Life cycle assessment of food waste management options, Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 275-286.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.02.020

[3] U. Arena, M.L. Mastellone, F. Perugini, The environmental performance of alternative solid waste management options: a life cycle assessment study, Chemical Engineering Journal 96 (2003) 207-222.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2003.08.019

[4] D. Ozeler, U. Yetis, G.N. Demirer, Life cycle assesment of municipal solid waste management methods: Ankara case study, Environment International 32 (2006) 405-411.

DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2005.10.002

[5] F. Cherubini, S. Bargigli, S. Ulgiati, Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration, Energy, 34 (2009) 2116-2123.

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2008.08.023

[6] R.J. Hong, G.F. Wang, R.Z. Guo, et al., Life cycle assessment of BMT-based integrated municipal solid waste management: Case study in Pudong, China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 49 (2006) 129-146.

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2006.03.007

[7] G.A. Keoleian, D.V. Spitzley, Guidance for improving life-cycle design and management of milk packaging, Journal of Industrial Ecology 3 (1999) 111-126.

DOI: 10.1162/108819899569322

[8] O. Eriksson, M.C. Reich, B. Frostell, et al., Municipal solid waste management from a systems perspective, Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 241-252.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.02.018

[9] J.L. Hong, J.M. Hong, O. Masahiro, et al., Environmental and economic life cycle assessment for sewage sludge treatment processes in Japan, Waste Management 29 (2009) 696-703.

DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2008.03.026

[10] M. Lundin, M. Olofsson, G.J. Pettersson, et al., Environmental and economic assessment of sewage sludge handling options, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 41 (2004) 255-278.

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2003.10.006

[11] G. Houillon, O. Jolliet, Life cycle assessment of processes for the treatment of wastewater urban sludge: energy and global warming analysis, Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 287-299.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.02.022

[12] C. Reid, V. Becaert, M. Aubertin, et al., Life cycle assessment of mine tailing management in Canada, Journal of Cleaner Production 17 (2009) 471-479.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.08.014

[13] Y.S. Li, M.X. Lu, H.L. Hu, et al., To evaluate the environmental impact of copper slag as raw material of copper concentration using life cycle assessment method, Chinese Journal of Environmental Engineering 3 (2009) 349-353.

[14] B. Chen, J.X. Yang, Z.Y. Ouyang, Life cycle assessment of internal recycling options of steel slag in Chinese iron and steel industry, Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International 18 (2011) 33-40.

DOI: 10.1016/s1006-706x(11)60087-3

[15] A. Azapagic, R. Clift, Allocation of environmental burdens in multiple-function systems, Journal of Cleaner Production 7 (1999) 101-119.

[16] Committee of the Handbook on Nonferrous Metal Extraction and Metallurgy, The Handbook on Nonferrous Metal Extraction and Metallurgy: Copper & Nickel. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing, China, (2000).

[17] C. Chen, The Research of Metabolism and Environmental Impact of Cement Production Process in China. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, (2007).

[18] Y.Q. Dai, S. Yan, X.D. Shen, Study on Portland cement for road with copper slag, Jiangsu Building Material 2 (1998) 29-30.

[19] D.G. Tang, Study on application of copper tailing in cement production, China Resources Comprehensive Utilization, 10 (2005) 17-20.

[20] P.L. Wang, Experimental Study on Unfired Brick Made from Tailing by Dry Pressing. Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, China, (2009).