Sustainable Energy Systems Engineering Group, School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Sustainable Energy Systems Engineering Group, School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 May 1;663:958-970. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.400. Epub 2019 Jan 31.
In this study, a life-cycle assessment from the aluminum production processes is carried out by considering four major steps of aluminum production - bauxite mining from the ore, alumina production, smelting, and the ingot casting process of aluminum. The study considered the cradle to gate system to analyze and quantify the environmental impacts during aluminum production process from raw materials to the final finished product. The production input and output datasets are taken from the databases and eGrid reports and the analysis is carried out utilizing three different methods, namely the International Life-cycle Reference Data System (ILCD) method, the Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) method, and the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method. The results show electricity consumption in aluminum smelting causes noteworthy environmental burdens among all the processes or materials involved. Residual fuel oil, diesel, and natural gas consumption during the alumina production is also a major contributor to environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to justify the variation of environmental impacts in proportion with the modes of electricity generation from different sources to be used for aluminum smelting. Further sensitivity analysis is carried out among the quantity of the fossil fuel used based on their sources for process heat generation during alumina production. According to the sensitivity analysis results, renewable energy integration or reducing the consumption of fossil fuels would be the promising alternative to reduce the environmental burdens associated with aluminum production.
本研究通过考虑铝生产的四个主要步骤 - 从矿石中开采铝土矿、氧化铝生产、冶炼和铝锭铸造工艺，对铝生产过程进行了生命周期评估。该研究考虑了摇篮到大门系统，以分析和量化从原材料到最终成品的铝生产过程中的环境影响。生产投入和产出数据集取自数据库和 eGrid 报告，并利用三种不同的方法进行分析，即国际生命周期参考数据系统 (ILCD) 方法、化学品和其他环境影响减少和评估工具 (TRACI) 方法和累积能源需求 (CED) 方法。结果表明，在所有涉及的工艺或材料中，铝冶炼用电消耗会导致显著的环境负担。氧化铝生产过程中残余燃料油、柴油和天然气的消耗也是造成环境影响的主要因素。进行了敏感性分析，以证明与用于铝冶炼的不同来源的发电方式成比例的环境影响的变化。还根据氧化铝生产过程中用于工艺加热的化石燃料的来源，对基于其数量的敏感性进行了分析。根据敏感性分析结果，可再生能源的整合或减少化石燃料的消耗将是减少与铝生产相关的环境负担的有前途的选择。
