Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Industry in Developing Nations

摘要

Among various methods used to quantify the impacts of the construction industry, this study considers cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of Portland cement concrete (PCC); in specific, the application of a LCA to concrete production in developing nations, focusing on the country of Lebanon. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify the emissions of PCC industry in Lebanon, requiring extensive data collection. This work complies to the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and covers the life cycle starting with raw material extraction and ending with the demolition of a concrete structure. Emissions during the life span of the concrete structure are excluded. Four impact categories were addressed: global warming potential (GWP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP), and acidification potential (AP), in addition to energy demand. Local data was collected, via direct contact with: mixing plant operators, cement factory administrators, and fuel importing companies. The results of LCA indicated that 1 m3 of concrete contributed to 348 kg C0_2-eq in GWP, 87 g Ethylene-eq in POCP, 61 g P04-eq in EP, and 1.63 kg S02-eq in AP. Conforming to research in other regions, it was found that cement production phase in the PCC life cycle is responsible for the majority of emissions, contributing to 307 kg C0_2-eq in GWP, 59 g Ethylene-eq in POCP, 32 g P04-eq in EP, and 1.25 kg S02-eq in AP, always per m~3 of concrete.