Thermochemical recovery from the sustainable economy development point of view—LCA-based reasoning for EU legislation changes

Abstract

The EU legislation put the focus on the material recovery of waste while energy recovery is not elaborate enough and all thermochemical conversion technologies are classified in the same category regardless of the final products, which can hamper overall sustainability. Therefore, this research analyses technologies for recovery of plastic waste to review the existing EU legislation and technology classifications. Most important LCA impact categories from the legislation point of view were identified and used in the analysis. As alternative thermochemical recovery technologies are not widely used, their inventories were modelled based on an extensive literature review. Results show that pyrolysis of plastic waste has 46%, 90%, and 55%, while gasification up to 24%, 8%, and 91%, lower global warming, abiotic depletion, and cumulative energy demand-related impacts, respectively, compared to incineration with CHP generation. Incineration-based scenarios show lower impacts only in the acidification potential category which is dependent on energy mixes of substituted energy vectors which are quickly changing due to the energy transition. Thus, alternative thermochemical recovery technologies can help in reaching sustainable development goals by lowering environmental impacts and import dependence. But, before considering new investments, the substitution of less environmentally sustainable fuels in facilities like cement kilns needs to be looked upon. Results of this analysis provide levelized results for environmental and resource sustainability based on which current legislative views on individual thermochemical recovery technologies may be re-examined.Graphical abstract