International Reference Life Cycle Data Research Articles

Environmental Impact Assessment of Hole Conductor Layer Free and Flexible Organo Lead Iodide Perovskite Solar Cell

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown a significant increment in power conversion efficiency recently with advantages such as flexibility and low-cost roll-to-roll production. Prior to the commercialization of PSCs, it is significant to investigate its environmental performance with life cycle assessment method. In this work, cradle to gate LCA of solution-based organo-lead iodide perovskite solar cell performed according to the one reported literature method that comprises flexible Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and hole transport layer (HTL) elimination. Environmental impacts from the generation of 1 m2 of cell area production are determined in six International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) categories. It is found that the major impact comes from the fabrication of the aluminum metal electrode layer due to the high electrical energy required in the vacuum deposition process. The life cycle global warming potential (GWP) that the most widely used environmental indicator has been calculated for per kWh electricity production to make a comparison with commercial photovoltaic technologies. It is found that the HTL-free flexible (HFF) PSC needs 15-20 years of device lifetime to reach competitive GWP value with commercial PVs.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Uranium Recovery from Brine

• Once industrialized uranium recovery from brine is a feasible process. • Amidoximated adsorbents have a lower environmental impact than conventional methods. • Hazardous waste disposal and hydroxylamine are the most influenceable parameters of the system. • Solar energy has the least environmental impact compare to the other energy alternatives. With the increase in world population and the associated increase in raw material, clean water and energy demands, seeking for innovative and sustainable methods to decrease human-made environmental footprint becomes a task of utmost importance to reduce emissions and waste generation. Uranium-based atomic energy generation has an enormous potential to efficiently supply energy demand at the cost of high environmental impact on water bodies. Therefore, estimating the environmental impacts of the uranium recovery systems from desalination waste is a necessity. This study assessed the environmental impact of uranium recovery method from brine via AF1 and PAN-AO amidoximated adsorbents and compared them with the conventional uranium mining methods. As a life-cycle impact assessment method International Reference Life Cycle Data System was conducted with 16 impact categories considering cradle to gate analysis. The results for AF1, PAN-AO and all conventional uranium extraction methods showed that recovery of uranium in the long run is more effective than the conventional procedures. The sensitivity analysis results reveal that hydroxylamine, hazardous waste disposal are the most influential parameters during the uranium recovery via adsorbent methods. Comparative analysis between energy sources used in adsorbent recovery processes indicated that solar energy has the lowest environmental impacts among all kinds of energy scenarios. This study concluded that an alternative sustainable industrial process to obtain uranium is actually applicable. Hence, developing a uranium recovery strategy from brine should be considered while uranium mines are under investigation. Graphical Abstract .

Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products

Although there are a lot of studies in literature related to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of mining, there are only a few studies done on the boron mining industry. This paper presents an LCA of the boron mining industry including the extraction, beneficiation, and refinement processes. The main purpose is to identify and compare the environmental impacts associated with the production of 1 ton of refined products (boric acid, borax pentahydrate, borax decahydrate, and sodium perborate) starting from an open pit mine located in Turkey. The life cycle inventory (LCI) was obtained from the data collected from the related literature sources and the company’s reports. This cradle-to-gate analysis has been carried out using the commercial software called SimaPro employing the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) 2011 Midpoint+ Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method. The results showed that the environmental impact of the refinement process is critical compared to the mining and beneficiations processes. Sulphuric acid, steam, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium perborate which are used in refined boron production cause most of the impact and emission into the environment. Among the refined boron products investigated, the impact of sodium perborate is quite high.

Recirculating treated sewage sludge for agricultural use: Life cycle assessment for a circular economy

The objective of this study is to assess the environmental value of recirculating nutrients from treated sewage sludge by application to agricultural soils to grow forage as opposed to landfilling and incineration. The methodological choices are aligned to the circular economy framework using life cycle assessment. Consequential modeling and open loop modeling were adopted and adhere to ISO 14044 and International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) standards. The functional unit is defined in terms of the amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) recirculated from the treated sewage sludge produced annually in Kuwait. The results indicate a reduction in environmental burden with respect to fossil fuel depletion, metal depletion and climate change. A total of 95% of the reduction is realized by avoiding virgin nitrogen production and instead using its recirculated counterpart. Considerable amounts of natural gas, coal, dinitrogen monoxide (nitrous oxide, N2O) and copper are consumed during virgin N fertilizer production.

Environmental impact assessment of alkali-activated mortar with waste precursors and activators

Synthetic activators used in alkali-activated binder are the primary contributors to its adverse environmental effects. Therefore, this study aims to perform a life cycle assessment of alkali-activated mortar (AAM) prepared from industrial waste as precursors and activators. The impact analysis is performed through ReCiPe methodology for six different AAM mixes. Environmental impacts of replacing conventional precursors (fly ash and slag) with waste ceramic powder (WCP) and red mud (RM) and conventional activators (sodium silicate (SS) and sodium hydroxide (SH)) with RM, desulfurization dust, and silica fume are assessed. The efficiency of ReCiPe is compared with recommendations from the International Reference Life Cycle Data System. Sensitivity analysis for SH produced using three different techniques and simplified cost analysis for the mortar mixes is conducted. SS is observed to contribute 50–59% of climate change for mixes with conventional activator combination. WCP as a precursor warrants higher dosage of SS and SH, thereby increasing the environmental impact. Replacing SS with silica fume has the least negative effects on ecosystem quality and human health. AAM prepared with conventional activators shows lower resource depletion due to a lower dosage of activators and the absence of pretreatment of fly ash. ReCiPe can be used to evaluate all the impact categories except freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity, for which USEtox is suggested. Sensitivity analysis shows that the membrane cell process of SH production is eco-efficient. Savings of up to 14% are observed by replacing both precursors and activators with industrial residues.

Life Cycle Assessment of Total Fatty Acid (TFA) Production from Microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica at Different Sites and Under Different Sustainability Scenarios

The environmental sustainability of the microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica cultivation for total fatty acid (TFA) production was analyzed using life cycle assessment (LCA). Pilot data provided by the plant operator from cultivation in Italy using Green Wall Panel (GWP®) photobioreactors were upscaled to a 20-ha production process, and an LCA was conducted and assessed for the Italian regions of Tuscany and Sicily. Two additional scenarios were modelled to analyze the influence of more sustainable framework conditions, respectively nutrient recycling and renewable energy supply. The results show that environmental impacts per functional unit are around 15% less at the site with optimal growth conditions. Between 60 and 80% of the impacts are due to the energy demand during plant operation, infrastructure, and nutrient demand. Nutrient recycling and the gain of an energy credit from the separated biocrude with the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process reduce the environmental impacts in all six International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) impact categories by an average of 11% compared to a scenario without nutrient recycling. The additional consideration of a renewable energy supply allows for an average reduction of 36% and together with the nutrient recycling of an average of 45% for the global warming potential (GWP) and most of the other impact categories.

Life cycle assessment of lightweight aggregates produced with ashes from municipal solid waste incineration

Air pollution control residues (APCr) from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration are hazardous waste, and their management requires holistic approaches within technical, economical, legislative, and environmental constraints. This work deals with the recycling of APCr for producing lightweight aggregates (LWA) commonly manufactured by firing natural clay. The main objectives are to evaluate the environmental impacts of LWA with and without incorporating APCr and assess whether APCr recycling in LWA is beneficial, based on the life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The system boundary included raw material extraction, grinding, mixture, firing, cooling, and packing (cradle-to-gate). Results were analysed following the impact assessment methods recommended by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System. Results pointed out a reduction of impacts in all categories when 3% of natural clay are replaced by APCr. The highest gains occurred for toxicity categories (HTc, HTnc) and resulted mainly from avoiding landfill of APCr. For non-toxicity categories, impacts were dominated by the emissions from the kiln firing process, which were similar for both LWA; therefore, impact reductions from APCr use in LWA in these categories were modest. LCA results show that the valorisation of APCr in LWA may be an environmentally sound solution to avoid landfill disposal practices.

Screening LCA of French organic amendments and fertilisers

In France, agricultural recycling of organic waste is widespread, but LCIs of organic waste treatments are scarce. This work presents LCIs of the most relevant organic waste treatments yielding residual organic amendments and fertilisers, and organic residue–based industrial processes yielding commercial organic amendments and fertilisers, in France. It also presents the results from a screening LCA performed on these LCIs. LCIs were built from mainly secondary data sources. Four functional units were retained: 1 t fresh mass of final product and 1 t of N, P, or K in fresh mass. Economic allocation was applied, following the French Environment and Energy Management Agency position. The International Reference Life Cycle Data System 2011 suit for impact assessment was retained, and all impacts were expressed as single scores to facilitate comparisons. Organic wastes considered were liquid and solid manures, agro-industrial residues, sewage sludge, green wastes and harvest residues, and biowaste. Treatment steps modelled were stocking, shredding, sieving, and mixing of substrates; anaerobic and aerobic treatments; thickening, dewatering, drying, and pelletising; various biological and physicochemical treatments of phase-separated liquid fractions; and the industrial production of organic amendments and fertilisers. Comparisons were performed among products classified as amendments or fertilisers. LCIs of typical treatment routes are presented, complemented with screening life cycle impact assessment results. Dried sludge and treated solid fractions of agricultural digestates present consistently higher impacts than any other amendment, mainly due to their associated energy use, relatively low N contents, and the use of maize silage as input. These items contribute in average > 50% of the aggregated impacts. Untreated manure and slurry feature the lowest relative impacts for all functional units. Compost-based commercial organic amendments have similar impacts to other composts per t of fresh mass, but slightly lower per t of nutrients or C, due to the inclusion of additional nutrient-rich inputs. Regarding fertilisers, the impact intensity of commercial organo-mineral fertilisers and treated liquid fractions of slurry and agricultural digestate is within similar orders of magnitude. Manure-based digestates feature relatively low impacts per all functional units. Only some digestates and untreated poultry manure feature impacts similar to those of N mineral fertilisers. Energy provision and direct emissions are the main contributors to impacts in organic waste treatments. Modelling choices such as the allocation of impacts to agricultural by-products heavily influence specific impact categories, mainly climate change. Overall, these results represent a needed contribution to background data used in agricultural LCA.

Environmental life cycle assessment of Mediterranean tomato: case study of a Tunisian soilless geothermal multi-tunnel greenhouse

Despite the advantages that tomato production has on the economic balance of Tunisia, it may present an environmental pressure on the natural ecosystem. The main objective of this research is to determine the environmental impacts of soilless geothermal conventional multi-tunnel cherry tomato production located in Chenchou (South-West of Tunisia) using life cycle assessment methodology. The functional unit considered is one ton of soilless cherry tomato produced. The system boundaries included: (1) energy, (2) fertigation (3) pesticides (3) transport (4) crop maintenance (Pruning, harvesting, CO2 injects) (5) greenhouse setting-up and (6) waste treatment. The inventory data were collected from the farm exploitation. Ten impact categories were computed using International Reference Life Cycle Data System impact assessment methodology. The results obtained showed that fertilizers and energy sub-systems are the most contributing in the majority of the impacts. The production of 1 ton of tomato emits about 954 kg CO2-eq. Moreover, waste treatment sub-system engendered an avoided global warming, land use, water resources depletion and abiotic resources depletion potential impacts. Finally, the studied system presented a relatively low water footprint due to the use of geothermal water for irrigation. The sensitivity analysis showed that substituting electricity source from natural gas to renewable sources (biomass, photovoltaics and hydropower) could improve the environmental performance of the tomato production system.

Analysis about the incorporation of remanufacturing concept into life cycle assessment theories

In Circular Economy, remanufacturing is one of the most beneficial circular loops to guarantee the conservation of resources. There are some alternatives to multiple life cycle products such as reuse, renovation, refurbishment or recycling although remanufacturing is the only option that introduces multiple life cycle products in the market as if these products were new. The objective of this research is to assess the requirement of a better alternative for the End of Cycle in Life Cycle Assessment from the remanufacturing perspective. Life Cycle Assessment is an environmental accounting and management approach that considers all the aspects of resource use and environmental releases associated with an industrial system from cradle to grave. Aiming at this, different system boundaries and allocation methodologies have been considered. The following four methodologies have been analyzed: Ecoinvent, Environdec, International Reference Life Cycle Data and European Product Environmental Footprint. In the studied methods, the recovery appears as reuse, energetic recovery or recovery to second life. These methods elude the remanufacturing perspective; therefore, how remanufacturing would fit for each of the selected methodologies has been analyzed.

Probabilistic multicriteria environmental assessment of power plants: A global approach

This paper presents a probabilistic model to assess the environmental performance of power plants. The entire life-cycle is considered, from the fuel extraction to the dismantling phase. The model is based on the use of requirement trees, value functions, the analytic hierarchy process and Monte Carlo simulation. The data to feed the model were established after an extensive literature review and also after collecting more than 350 sets of life cycle assessment (LCA) results. The midpoint impact methods recommended by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System Handbook were employed. The results can be considered as representative for the world at large, including the most common types of energies. Wind and hydro power plants are the best options, with environmental indices always above 0.95, 1 and 0 being the highest and lowest levels of satisfaction. In contrast, power plants fired by coal, lignite and fuel oil are at the bottom of the ranking, with indices typically below 0.5. However, not all the renewables present high-performing environmental results. Furthermore, some non-renewable power plants can be environmentally competitive in certain situations. The model was used to assess case studies related to natural-gas and biomass power-plants, previously analysed in the literature. The environmental indices fell within the expected intervals for such technologies, which served to validate the model. This study can be useful for researchers, professionals of all kinds in the energy sector, politicians, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the general public as well as for energy policy decision-making processes at different geographical scales.

LCA and wild animals: Results from wild deer culled in a northern Italy hunting district

Abstract Although the research of innovative and sustainable environmental alternatives to meat consumption is increasing, little attention has been given to hunting activity, which has traditionally provisioned food products from wild animals. Given this gap, the present study aims to quantify the environmental impacts of wild red deer culling (Cervus elaphus) through selective hunting in a mountainous Italian district, adopting a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Nine impact categories are evaluated using the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) v1.09 impact assessment method, with climate change filling a special role. The results highlight that the long distances covered by the hunters to cull wild red deer is the hotspot of the supply chain representing almost 85% of the impact in every considered impact categories. Focusing on climate change, the outcomes show that the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) per functional unit (4.85 kg CO2eq) are largely influenced by the hypothesis considering the wild red deer as an elementary flow entering the system and, thus, not including enteric methane emissions. In this case, the hunted red deer meat appears to be an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional beef. The representativeness of the findings has to be increased both within the same species and in association with other wild ungulates (e.g., roe deer, wild boar or chamois) to better understand the potential role of traditionally hunted wild products in more sustainable diets.

Modelling Environmental Burdens of Indoor-Grown Vegetables and Herbs as Affected by Red and Blue LED Lighting

Notwithstanding that indoor farming is claimed to reduce the environmental pressures of food systems, electricity needs are elevated and mainly associated with lighting. To date, however, no studies have quantified the environmental and economic profile of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lighting in indoor farming systems. The goal of this study is to quantify the effect of varying the red (R) and blue (B) LED spectral components (RB ratios of 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4) on the eco-efficiency of indoor production of lettuce, chicory, rocket and sweet basil from a life cycle perspective. The functional unit of the assessment was 1 kg of harvested fresh plant edible product, and the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method was employed for impact assessment. Even though most of the materials of the LED lamp and electronic elements were imported from long distances (14,400 km), electricity consumption was the largest contributor to the environmental impacts (with the LED lamps being the main electricity consumers, approximately 70%), apart from the resources use indicator, where the materials of the lamps and the mineral nutrients were also relevant. RB0.5 was the most energy-efficient light treatment but had the lowest eco-efficiency scores due to the lower crop yields.

Environmental assessment of valorisation alternatives for woody biomass ash in construction materials

Ash generated during the combustion of woody biomass for energy production is an industrial waste that should be properly managed in order to minimise the respective environmental impacts. Woody biomass ash valorisation in construction materials to replace conventional materials is an alternative that has proven to be technically feasible. On the other hand, it can present potential environmental impacts that should be evaluated to support the choice of more sustainable alternatives. Thus, the purpose of this work is to assess the potential impacts of woody biomass ash valorisation of through incorporation in construction materials using life cycle assessment. The valorisation alternatives consider the incorporation of woody biomass ash in cement mortars, adhesive mortars, concrete blocks, and bituminous asphalts. In addition, a base scenario consisting of ash landfilling is also assessed. Four types of woody biomass ashes were considered, namely fly and bottom ashes generated in a vibrating grate and fly and bottom ashes generated in a fluidised bed. The impact assessment method used is that suggested in the International Reference Life Cycle Data System for selected impact categories. The results showed that the impacts of ash transport and pre-processing and the impacts of producing the avoided materials are factors that affect the net impact of the valorisation scenarios and should be considered in the end-of-life management of biomass ash. Nevertheless, all valorisation scenarios had a lower impact than landfilling in all the impact categories under study, resulting in a significant decrease of the environmental impacts in some scenarios.

Global environmental impacts: data sources and methodological choices for calculating normalization factors for LCA

PurposeCharacterizing environmental impacts at the global scale is crucial to define references against which compare the environmental profile of products and systems. Within this study, global emissions and resource uses have been collected and characterized for the following impact categories: climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer), ecotoxicity, particulate matter, ionizing radiation, photochemical ozone formation, acidification, eutrophication (terrestrial, marine, and freshwater), land use, water use, and resource use. The results can be used as normalization factors (NFs) in the context of the life cycle assessment (LCA).Material and methodsThe global NFs are built on an extensive collection of data on emissions and resources extracted at a global scale in 2010, gathering different sources and comparing them. A hierarchical approach was applied to the selection of data sources. Extrapolations, mainly temporal data-gap filling, were applied for complementing the inventories for missing data. In order to calculate NFs, the inventory was characterized by using the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) midpoint indicators and the EU Environmental Footprint (EF) set, which includes recently released models.Results and discussionThe resulting global NFs (ILCD and EF) were reported and discussed for each impact category. Coverage completeness and robustness of both the underpinning inventories and impact assessment models were used to define the level of uncertainty in the calculations. Based on the contribution analysis of the main elementary flows, it resulted that only few elementary flows drive the overall impact for most of the impact categories. Moreover, the ratio between the NFs at EU27 in 2010 and global level showed that Europe generally covers less than 10% of the global impact.Conclusion and outlookThe quantification of the current levels of environmental pressures entails critical aspects, as it consists of accounting of emissions and resources, relying on data often incomplete or based on modeling. Despite the attempts made for increasing NFs coverage and robustness, the calculation in the present study highlights the need of further efforts aiming at overcoming the uncertainties and the limitations identified both at the inventory (i.e., difficulty in retrieving complete and recent data) and characterization levels (e.g., consistency between inventory and impact assessment regarding spatialization, system boundaries). Most importantly, any assessment based on the use of NFs should be carefully discussed and interpreted in light of the limitations discussed in this paper.

Life cycle assessment of cobalt extraction process

Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation carried out on the impacts of cobalt extraction process using a life cycle assessment by considering a cradle-to-gate system. Life cycle inventory data was collected from the EcoInvent and Australian Life cycle assessment database (AusLCI) and analysis were performed using SimaPro software employing the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, and Cumulative Energy Demand method (CED) for per kg of cobalt production. Several impact categories are considered in the analysis i.e. global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication, land use, water use, fossil fuels, minerals, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and cumulative energy demand. The analysis results indicate that among the impact categories, eutrophication and global warming impacts are noteworthy. Medium voltage electricity used in cobalt production and the blasting operation appears to be causing most of the impact and emission into the environment. The sensitivity analysis was carried out using three different case scenarios by altering the electricity generation sources of UCTE (Synchronous Grid of Continental Europe) to investigate the proportional variation of impact analysis results. Furthermore, the impacts caused by cobalt production are compared with nickel and copper production processes to reveal their relative impacts on the environment and ecosystems.

Estimation of shadow prices of soil organic carbon depletion and freshwater depletion for use in LCA

The interpretation of differences between alternative systems in life cycle assessment (LCA) can be problematic when different impact categories point to different directions. Using shadow prices is one way to overcome this problem, as the results are expressed in a monetary value, making comparison easy for decision makers. However, for the International Reference Life Cycle Data System midpoint impact categories ‘water depletion’ and ‘land use’, the shadow prices were missing. In the current paper, these were derived from literature sources. Abatement-based shadow prices (Pa) were established from the costs of the abatement measures minus the additional benefits. The damage-based shadow price (Pd) was based on the economic damage per unit of impact. Damage to ecosystems or human health was not included, as monetary values were lacking. As a consequence, Pd is an underestimation. Pa prices for land use, based on soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, were derived from the cost of abatement measures like adding organic matter to agricultural soil or changing tillage. The response of crop yield to SOC, for several countries and crops, was used for the Pd calculation. For water depletion, Pa was based on water saving measures and desalination techniques, and Pd was based on economic losses due to water unavailability. The following shadow prices were found for SOC depletion: Pa of 0.10 € kg−1 SOC and Pd of 0.0286 € kg−1 SOC. For water depletion, Pa of 15.8 € m−3 eq. was based on replacing turf with less-water-consuming planting. The value of water for irrigation was the base for the Pd 5.17 € m−3 eq. Freshwater and SOC Pa values unexpectedly exceeded the Pd values. This originated partly from the methods used. Pd was established by averaging marginal costs, while Pa used the most expensive measure, and this may lead to Pa exceeding Pd. Furthermore, the damage-based Pd for SOC and water depletion was mainly based on crop yield, and other types of ecological or societal damage will exist. Including these damages that lacked reliable data will increase Pd. The shadow prices presented here are the first science-based global estimates. For LCA, the Pd values should preferably be used. The values are regarded as conservative estimates since only economic damage was included as other damages like ecological damage could not be monetised. The estimated shadow prices were derived for impacts where economic data is relatively scarce, and this limited the quality of the estimates. More extensive studies are needed to further improve the quality of the estimated prices.

Modelling environmental impacts of treated municipal wastewater reuse for tree crops irrigation in the Mediterranean coastal region

Wastewater reuse provides valuable solutions to solve the societal challenges of decreasing availability and limiting access to secure water resources. The present study quantifies the environmental performance of nectarine orchards irrigation using treated municipal wastewater (TMW) and surface water using a unique dataset based on field experimental data. Climate change, toxicity (for human and freshwater), eutrophication (marine and freshwater) and acidification impacts were analysed using the impact assessment method suggested by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). The water footprint associated to the life cycles of each system has been estimated using the Available WAter REmaining (AWARE) method. Monte Carlo simulation was used to assess data uncertainty. The irrigation of nectarine orchards using TMW performs better than the irrigation using surface water for eutrophication impact categories. Compared with surface water resources, the potential impacts of TMW reuse in agriculture on climate change and toxicity are affected by the wastewater treatment phase (WWT). Only eutrophication and acidification burdens are generated by in-field substitution of surface water with TMW. Considering human and ecosystem water demand, the irrigation with TMW increases water consumption of 19.12 m3 per kg of nectarine produced. Whereas, it shows a positive contribution to water stress (−0.19 m3) if only human water demand is considered. This study provides important results that allow for a better understanding of the potential environmental consequences of TMW reuse in agriculture. It suggests that embracing the type of WWTs, the replacement of fertilizers, the effects on water scarcity and ecosystem quality might be useful to redefine water reuse regulations and increase public acceptance for the reuse of TMW in agriculture. Moreover, this study reveals the need for developing consensus and standardized guidance for life cycle analysis of water reuse applications.

Life cycle analysis of copper-gold-lead-silver-zinc beneficiation process

Gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper are valuable non-ferrous metals that paved the way for modern civilisation. However, the environmental impacts from their beneficiation stage was always overlooked. This paper analysed the life cycle environmental impacts from the beneficiation process of gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production. The analysis is conducted by utilising the SimaPro software version 8.5. The life cycle assessment methodologies followed are the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, the IMPACT 2002+ method, and the Cumulative Energy Demand Method (CED). The most significant impact categories are ecotoxicity, climate change, human toxicity, eutrophication, acidification, and ozone depletion among nearly 15 impact categories which are assessed in this study. The analysis results from the ILCD method indicate that there is a noteworthy impact on ionising radiation caused by the beneficiation process. Out of the five metals considered, gold and silver beneficiation impacts the most while lead‑zinc beneficiation impacts the least. Gold beneficiation has most impacts on the category of climate change and ecosystems. Other major impact categories are ionising radiation, terrestrial eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation, human toxicity, and acidification. The IMPACT 2002+ method shows the overall impact is on ecosystem quality and human health from this combined beneficiation process, dominantly from gold‑silver beneficiation. The life-cycle inventory results show that the blasting process and the amount of electricity consumption in the beneficiation process contribute to cause significant amount of environmental impacts. The comparative impact results are presented and discussed in detail in this paper. Sensitivity analyses are presented based on various electricity grid-mix scenarios and energy-mix scenarios, and the results suggest that electricity grid mix has a dominant effect over the fossil-fuel mix. This paper also highlights the potential steps which could cut down the environmental effects by integrating renewable-energy technologies.

How origin, packaging and seasonality determine the environmental impact of apples, magnified by food waste and losses

Using apple consumption in Belgium as a case study, this study examines the environmental impacts associated with Belgian (BE) and New Zealand (NZ) apples, how impacts evolve throughout the year and how packaging affects this impact. Additionally, impacts associated with food losses and food waste along the chain are assessed. The study aims to delineate the most important factors in determining environmental impacts associated with apple. The environmental impacts are calculated using the ILCD (International Reference Life Cycle Data System) approach. The functional unit is 1 kg of apples purchased by a consumer in the supermarket. Primary data was collected through players along the chain. Various scenarios are analysed for both the BE and NZ apples, based on the moment of purchase and packaging method. Food loss and waste impacts are assessed by splitting the impacts along the chain into three categories: apples lost along the supply chain, apples purchased and eaten by the consumer and apples purchased and wasted by the consumer. For all impact categories assessed, NZ apples come at a higher environmental cost than BE ones due to overseas transport. For both BE and NZ apples, minimum impacts are found for bulk apples at the beginning of the season, whereas maximum values are found for pre-packed apples at the end of the season. For BE apples, the choice of packaging method highly affects the impact, while it is negligible relative to shipping impacts for NZ apples. Altering secondary packaging materials of BE apples allows for impact reductions up to 50%. In the case of climate change, food waste and losses contribute up to 25% or 15% for BE or NZ apples, respectively, as all lost food travels in vain through the food chain and needs to be disposed of. The study shows the importance of origin and packaging, whereas the moment of purchase hardly affects the environmental impact of apples. From a supply chain perspective, there is room for improvement as altering the use of secondary packaging greatly reduces impacts along the chain. The study further highlights how impacts are magnified by food waste and losses.