Environmental assessment of acetylene production process via calcium carbide: A case study in Sancti Spíritus

Abstract

Currently, the generation of resources and the problems associated with them are considered to be concern issues for mankind. Acetylene is an essential resource for industrial activities in the Cuban economy and lacks an environmental assessment that establishes the potential impacts of the activities involved in the process. The present study carried out an environmental evaluation of impacts associated with the acetylene process via calcium carbide (CaC2) at the Sancti Spíritus Industrial Gases Company, Cuba. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied, considering a cradle-to-gate perspective. The results showed that the activity with the greatest impact was related to CaC2 (impacts up to 99.31%), followed by acetonation (impacts up to 48.84%). This behavior is due to the contribution of CaC2 and acetone production processes respectively. In the Ecosystem Quality damage category was found the highest impact. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of the purity variation in the environmental profile on the damage categories, showing that electricity consumption is considered a hotspot in the process and should be controlled more effectively. The present study reports valuable information for the identification of possible environmental improvements to reduce the potential impacts of obtaining acetylene in the Cuban scenario.