Life cycle assessment of Portland cement production in Myanmar

Abstract

Cement manufacturing is associated with global and local environmental issues. Many studies have employed life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts from cement production and investigate measures to improve environmental performance. However, there have not been any scientific studies assessing the impacts of the Myanmar cement industry on the environment. In this study, environmental impacts of the Myanmar cement industry were evaluated using LCA and key contributors to major environmental impacts were identified. This study follows the principles outlined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006) to conduct LCA of the cement industry in Myanmar. The functional unit considered is 1 tonne of Portland cement, and a cradle-to-gate analysis was conducted. The input data (raw materials, energy, electricity, and transportation) were collected from 8 cement plants in Myanmar, but data about raw material extraction were adapted from the literature. The output data (emissions to air) were estimated based on the IPCC guidelines, the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebooks and the US EPA Detonation of explosives; an AP-42 update. LCAs of specific cement plants were implemented, and both midpoint environmental impacts and endpoint damage categories were assessed based on the ReCiPe 2016 method. The results showed that major environmental impacts from the Myanmar cement industry include climate change, photochemical oxidant formation damaging ecosystem quality, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification and fossil resource scarcity. They were assessed to account for about 80, 0.5, 18, 0.6 and 0.4% of the overall environmental burdens from cement manufacturing, respectively. Human health damage was the most affected category. Key contributors to these major impacts were found to be CO2, NOx, SO2 and PM2.5 emissions, mostly from the clinker production step. In order to mitigate these environmental impacts and initiate sustainable development in this industrial sector in Myanmar, appropriate mitigation options, including fuel and energy saving, and the use of alternative fuels and materials need to be considered. Through this study, the contribution of the Myanmar cement industry to environmental impacts in a life cycle perspective was investigated and key environmental hotspots were identified in order to suggest mitigation options for the sustainable development of this industrial sector. Based on the study results, some improvement measures should be considered, which include upgrading the cement manufacturing process, increasing the share of clinker substitutes, utilizing alternative fuels, optimizing energy efficiency and implementing energy recovery technologies.