Abstract
The life cycle assessment of tungsten carbide powder production was conducted in this study using the updated ReCiPe method with the consideration of China’s environmental, geographic, and exposed situation. Uncertainty analysis was applied based on Monte-Carlo simulation to evaluate the variation range of the results. The environmental burdens were basically derived from carcinogens, freshwater ecotoxicity, climate change, and fossil depletion categories mainly because of the ammonium paratungstate hydrate production. Electricity consumption, sludge disposal to landfill, and direct water emissions from the tungsten ore mining and concentration process played dominant roles in the aforementioned process. Improving the ammonium paratungstate hydrate consumption efficiency, reducing mining loss rate, optimizing national power structure, increasing landfill-gas utilization rate, and controlling the pollutant emission from wastewater are the key factors that could reduce the overall environmental burdens generated by China’s tungsten carbide powder production.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
