Environmental analysis of a construction and demolition waste recycling plant in Portugal - Part Ⅰ: Energy consumption and CO_2 emissions

摘要

This work is a part of a wider study involving the economic and environmental implications of managing construction and demolition waste (CDW), focused on the operation of a large scale CDW recycling plant. This plant, to be operated in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (including the Setubal peninsula), is analysed for a 60 year period, using primary energy consumption and CO_2eq emission impact factors as environmental impact performance indicators. Simplified estimation methods are used to calculate industrial equipment incorporated, and the operation and transport related impacts. Material recycling - sorted materials sent to other industries, to act as input - is taken into account by discounting the impacts related to industrial processes no longer needed. This first part focuses on calculating the selected impact factors for a base case scenario (with a 350 tonnes/h installed capacity), while a sensitivity analysis is provided in part two. Overall, a 60 year global primary energy consumption of 71.4 thousand toe (tonne of oil equivalent) and a total CO_2eq emission of 135.4 thousand tonnes are expected. Under this operating regime, around 563 thousand toe and 1465 thousand tonnes CO_2eq could be prevented by replacing raw materials in several construction materials industries (e.g.: ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, paper and cardboard).