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Comparison of the Environmental Impacts of Different Municipal Solid Waste Treatments using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Case Study: Tehran)
S Nasrollahi-Sarvaghaji, R Alimardani, M Sharifi, Mr Taghizadeh Yazdi,
Volume 9, Issue 2 (9-2016)
Abstract

Background and Objectives: The continuous increase in solid waste generation worldwide due to population growth and industrialization, calls for management strategies that integrate concerns for environmental sustainability. By quantifying environmental impacts of systems, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool which can contribute to answering that call. The aim of this study was to evaluate environmental pollutants resulting from various treatment options including anaerobic digestion, incineration, and landfill of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated daily in Tehran.

Materials and Methods: First, the physical properties of the waste and consumption of inputs in the study area were determined from September to October, 2014- 2015. Then the different steps of LCA in relation to each of the subsystems were followed (with SimaPro software). Finally, the results based on the CML Baseline 2000 were presented and analyzed.

Results: It was found that when the higher rate of separation and processing in any subsystems increases, the emission of environmental pollutants decreases, so that the global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, and abiotic depletion as the most important impact categories in the subsystems of anaerobic digestion were obtained as -125935 kg CO2/day, -449 kg SO2/day, -1690 kg PO43-/day and -0.43 kg Sb/day, respectively and in incineration were obtained as -264872 kg CO2/day, -974 kg SO2/day, -3471 kg PO43-/day and -0.76 kg Sb/day, respectively, while in the landfill subsystem, they were estimated to be 74478 kg CO2/day, 362 kg SO2/day, 118 kg PO43-/day, and 0.13 kg Sb/day, respectively.

Conclusion: According to the constituent processes of each of the subsystems and the results of the evaluation of exhaust emissions subsystems, it can be concluded that in an integrated system of waste management, the energy-generating systems such as anaerobic digestion and incineration should be as the first priority and the traditional subsystems such as landfill should be as the last priority.


Environmental assessment of vehicle lubricants by life cycle assessment approach
N Dorostkar Ahmadi, M Shafie-Nikabadi, S Babaie Kafaki,
Volume 11, Issue 4 (3-2019)
Abstract
Background and Objective: Today pollutants related to refineries and base oil products have caused many concerns about environment. Among these, the share of lubricants as one of the oil products is undeniable for causing environmental problems, harmful pollutants for men and global warming. Recently LCA as a beneficial tool is provided for finding solution to the environmental problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare environmental impacts of lubricants and its ingredients (oil based and additives). Additionally, it was attempted to identify the pollutants caused by the lubricants in order to replace them by environmentally friendly components.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the system boundary was first identified and then the life cycle assessment steps were carried out for vehicle lubricants. Finally, the results were analyzed using SimaPro software based on the Eco Indicator 95.
Results: Results showed that although additives made up about 20 percent of the lubricants, more than 80 percent of the environmental pollutants were related to them. These materials have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emission and global warming as 91% of CO2 emission (7.81kg) of lubricants is related to the additives. Also, these materials emit 0.00913 kg C2H4 and 0.0368 kg SPM, which can make summer and winter smog. The car lubricants cause heavy metals (3.95×10-5 kg Pb) to be released into water and release of carcinogenic substances (4.2×10-6 kg B(a)P), which  a very low percentage of it is allocated to base oil.
Conclusion: The most important environmental pollution of vehicle lubricants was caused by the additives. Since the percentage of each additive to lubricants includes antioxidant (40%), antiwear (23%), detergents (20%) and viscosity modifier (17%), thus, the company must seek to change these types of additives and replace them with the components with lower environmental impact in their production cycles.
 

Life cycle assessment of steel production from iron scrap: a case study at a steel plant
S Khoshyomn, A Heidari, A R Heidari,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (5-2019)
Abstract
Background and Objective: The steel industry is the world's largest consumer of energy. A large amount of iron waste is produced annually, which its use in the steel industry can be economic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of the steelmaking from iron scrap as a raw material using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method.
Materials and Methods: Simapro software and the ecoinvent database were used to conduct LCA. Data on the steel production process (raw materials, waste, and products) were collected by a questionnaire from a steel plant. Environmental burdens were quantified using ReCiPe, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and water footprints methods.
Results: The results of the ReCiPe method showed that the terrestrial ecotoxicity with a value of 14392 kg 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB) eq/ton of steel and global warming with 5289 kg CO2 eq/ton of steel, had the greatest environmental impact, respectively. The lowest environmental impact of this process was obtained for freshwater ecotoxicity and human carcinogenic toxicity. The carbon footprint resulting from steelmaking is 5.24 ton CO2 eq/ton of steel. The most important sector of the greenhouse gas producer is the consumption of electricity with a rate of 2900 of kg CO2 eq/ton of steel. The cumulative energy demand of one ton of steel ingot was 73393 MJ, which is three times the global equivalent. The total water footprint for one t of steel was 19.5 m3 of water, which is almost near to the equivalent in Europe.
Conclusion: the use of iron scrap as raw material in the process of steelmaking instead of iron ore has reduced the amount of human toxicity potential and mineral resource consumption.
 

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