Life-cycle analysis of energy consumption and GHG emissions of aluminium production in China

Abstract

China is the largest producer of aluminium globally. The energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by primary aluminium and recycled aluminium production in China have aroused widespread concern. In this paper, the energy consumption and GHG emissions caused by primary aluminium and recycled aluminium production from a life-cycle perspective are estimated, and the comparative analysis between China and the U.S. are conducted. The results indicate that life-cycle fossil energy consumption and GHG emissions of primary aluminium are 144612 MJ/t and 14772.72 kg CO2-eq/t respectively, which are about twice as much as that of the U.S. This is attributed to the high energy and GHG emissions intensities of electricity production which is dominated by coal generated electricity. The life-cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of recycled aluminium production is only 6.37% and 4.45% of the primary aluminium. Recycled aluminium industry and low-carbon electricity used for aluminium electrolysis are worthy to be supported since they are beneficial for the life-cycle performance of aluminium.