Life cycle assessment of potash fertilizer production in China

Abstract

Fertilizer application leads to energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, aiming to quantify the environmental impacts generated from brine-based potassium chloride fertilizer production, a life cycle assessment study was conducted. Additionally, uncertainty analysis based on Monte Carlo was conducted to improve the reliability of results obtained from this study. Results show that potential impacts from global warming category and fossil depletion category contributed the most to the total environmental impacts, with the value of 1.90E+02 kg CO2 eq (GSD2 = 1.35) and 2.57E+01 kg oil eq (GSD2 = 1.39), respectively. Impacts generated from respiratory inorganics and water depletion category also had significant contributions, with additional contributions from the categories of terrestrial acidification, respiratory organics, non-carcinogens, carcinogens, and marine eutrophication. Key factors analysis uncovers that the overall environmental impacts were mainly caused by electricity generation, water consumption, and on-site emissions. Finally, suggestions based on research results and the local reality are proposed. Research findings from this study provide valuable insights to stakeholders so that the overall environmental impacts (specially for GHG emissions) from potash fertilizer production can be mitigated.