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Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Aluminum Production

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Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Aluminum Production
Environmental and economic life cycle assessment of aluminum-silicon alloys production: a case study in China.
Authors:
Hong, Jingmin1,2
Zhou, Jing2
Hong, Jinglan3 hongjing@sdu.edu.cn
Xu, Xu3
Source:
Journal of Cleaner Production; Mar2012, Vol. 24, p11-19, 9p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*ALUMINUM-silver alloys
*PRODUCTION (Economic theory)
*ECONOMIC impact
*CASE study (Research)
*DEMAND (Economic theory)
*RAW materials
*CONSUMPTION (Economics)
Geographic Terms:
CHINA
NAICS/Industry Codes:
424590 Other Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers
Abstract:
Abstract: A coupled life cycle costing and life cycle assessment was carried out to estimate the economic and environmental impact of silicon-aluminum alloy production. The results showed that the aluminum alloy made from secondary aluminum accounted for 70%–95% of the environmental benefits in most categories, except in the land occupation and economic categories, compared with the aluminum alloy made from primary aluminum. These findings could be attributed to the decrease in energy and raw material consumption (i.e., electricity, sodium hydroxide, petroleum coke, and charcoal consumption) and the relatively high cost of secondary aluminum scrap. Optimizing raw material and electricity consumption efficiency, decreasing the transport distance from raw material (e.g., bauxite and old aluminum scrap) buyers to suppliers, and changing the end-life treatment of red mud from landfill to road building material production are key factors in reducing the overall environmental and economic impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
Copyright of Journal of Cleaner Production is the property of Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No
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