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Int J Life Cycle Assess (2015) 20:117127 DOI 10.1007/s11367-014-0804-4
REGIONAL TOPICS FROM JAPAN
The LCA of portland cement production in China
Chen Li & Suping Cui & Zuoren Nie & Xianzheng Gong &
Zhihong Wang & Norihiro Itsubo
Received: 15 August 2013 /Accepted: 11 September 2014 /Published online: 23 September 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
AbstractPurpose Cement production is associated with a considerable environmental load, which needs to be fully understood before effective measures can be taken. The existing literature did not give detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) study of China and had limited potential for investigating how best available techniques (BATs) would provide a maximum benefit when they are applied in China. Japan was selected as a good example to achieve better environmental performance of cement production. We identified potentials for reducing emissions and saving energy and natural resources in Chinese cement industry through the comparative analysis.
Methods This paper follows the principal of Life Cycle Assessment and International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). The functional units are 1 t of portland cement and with 42.5 MPa of strength grade. The input (limestone, sandstone, ferrous tailings, coal, and electricity) and output (CO2 from limestone decomposition and coal combustion, NOx, PM, and SO2) of cement manufacturing were calculated by use of on-site measurements, calculation by estimated coefficients, and derivation by mass and heat balance principle. The direct (cement manufacturing) and indirect (electricity production) LCI are added to be total
LCI results (cement production). The impact categories of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical oxidant formation potential (POCP), and human toxicity potential (HTP) are used to calculate environmental impact.
Results and discussion Only in GWP of cement manufacturing China has advantage. Japanese cement industry shows remarkable superiorities in the environmental impacts of AP, POCP, HTP, and EP due to advanced technologies. SO2 emissions make the corresponding AP and HTP. PM emissions result in part of HTP. The NOx emissions are the major contributors of POCP, AP, EP, and HTP in China. China emits fewer CO2 emissions (2.09 %) in cement manufacturing than Japan but finally makes higher total GWP than Japan due to more GWP of electricity generation in power stations. The waste heat recovery technology can save electricity...