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Cement manufacturing is associated with global and local environmental issues. Many studies have employed life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts from cement production and investigate measures to improve environmental performance. However, there have not been any scientific studies assessing the impacts of the Mya...
Citations
... Among many amendments, Portland cement and quicklime have been widely used for contaminated soil because of their cost-effectiveness (Correia et al. 2020). However, these materials are in high demand by numerous industries all over the world, raising environmental sustainability issues related to the depletion of natural resources such as limestone (Tun et al. 2020). Therefore, development of sustainable, eco-friendly, and renewable stabilizing amendments for the contaminated soil is an essential and sound proposition. ...
Pen shells (PS), a type of shellfish, are abundantly consumed, and their inedible shell residues are often discarded near the coast without consideration of reutilization. This study sought to investigate the use of natural pen shells (NPS) and calcined pen shells (CPS) to stabilize Pb and As-contaminated soil. During the investigation, NPS and CPS were applied to the contaminated soil in amounts ranging from 1 to 10 wt% and cured for 28 days. After the curing process, the mineral phase was examined through X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) analysis. The XRD and SEM–EDX results revealed the presence of riversideite and ettringite, which contribute to Pb and As stabilization in the CPS-treated soil. The leachability of Pb and As in the treated soil was further examined with three types of chemical extraction methods. Extraction results using 0.1 M HCl displayed a notable pH fluctuation in the extractant due to the residual amendments (NPS and CPS). The fluctuation resulted in a strong correlation of leached Pb and As with the pH of the extractant, which might hinder an accurate assessment of stabilization. In order to minimize the effect of pH, an EDTA-NH4OAc extraction was employed, suggesting its potential as a suitable assessment method. EDTA-NH4OAc extraction showed a higher effectiveness of CPS than NPS at 10 wt% of input amounts. In the SBET extraction, that uses a strongly acidic solution, a higher As leachability was observed by increasing the addition of CPS, which implied a CPS-related chemical fixation mechanism. The comparison of various extraction methods showed a higher CPS effectiveness as compared to NPS. However, it was recommended that CPS-treated soil required caution in strongly acidic conditions, especially for arsenic. This study explores the applicability of PS, which has not been investigated as an amendment for Pb and As-contaminated soil previously. Furthermore, this study revealed that utilization of various extraction methods is beneficial for gaining a comprehensive understanding of the role of CaCO3-based amendment in Pb and As-contaminated soil.
... Emissions produced by the cement industry include NOx, SO₂, PM, and CO (Kuenen et al, 2016). The cement industry sector can consume almost 12-15% of total energy use in the industrial sector and is responsible for around 7% of global CO₂ emissions (Tun et al, 2020). The same opinion was also expressed by Mokhtar and Nasooti (2020), if the cement industry uses up to 15% of energy with total CO₂ emissions of 5-7%. ...
... This approach can help identify ways to reduce the environmental impact of cement production. Several studies have used LCA to evaluate the environmental impact of cement production (Çankaya and Pekey 2019; Ali et al. 2014;Ali et al. 2016;Salas et al. 2016;García-Gusano et al. 2015;Tun, Bonnet, and Gheewala 2020;. For example, one study used LCA to investigate the environmental impact of cement production in South Africa and predicted the long-term environmental impact and future dynamics . ...
The production of Portland cement clinker is associated with substantial energy consumption and significant environmental consequences, driven by raw material extraction and Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, its production contributes to approximately 5-8% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, with each ton of Portland cement yielding about 1.0-1.2 tons of CO2. This paper used life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental impact of three types of blended cement (CEM II A-S, CEM II/B-S and CEM III/A) that use ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as a substitute for clinker in the South African cement industry using SimaPro 9.2.0.1 software developed by PRé Consultants, Amersfoort, Netherlands at ReCiPe2016 midpoint (H) V1.04. The study found that CEM III/A cement products with a high proportion of GGBFS had the lowest CO2-equivalent emissions per ton of cement compared to other blended cement with GGBFS substitution. The CO2-equivalent emissions of CEM III/A cement were about 74% lower than those of CEM I cement, which has the highest emissions. The global warming potential of CEM II A-S and CEM II/B-S cement was 30% and 24% higher than that of CEM III/A cement. CEM III/A cement is the most environmentally friendly option for cement production.
... These impacts are expressed in terms of the common unit of measurement Kg 1.4-DCB eq, which is used to aggregate multiple toxicity impact categories such as Terrestrial ecotoxicity (Emissions to industrial-soil), Freshwater ecotoxicity (Emissions to freshwater), Marine ecotoxicity (Emissions to seawater), Human Toxicity: Cancer and Non-Cancer (Emissions to urban-air) [55]. The results of the case study show that the Toxicity impacts of Tunisian CEM-I agree with what has been found in the literature [35,36]. This suggests that our findings are comparable to or similar to those reported in other studies that also used the ReCiPe method. ...
Clinker and cement production is an energy-intensive and high resource requirement industry with significant environmental impacts, and yet, there is a dearth of environmental research in Tunisia on its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Additionally, there is a tendency either to overlook or underestimate the selection of appropriate life cycle impact assessment methods. This study aims to address these issues by conducting a comprehensive LCA of Tunisian cement production with the goal of analyzing and comparing the results using various methods and benchmarking against existing literature. Three different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods, including IMPACT 2002+, CML (baseline), and ReCiPe Midpoint (2008–2016) (H), were used. These methods were chosen for their different coverage (regional/global) of their impact categories, leading to a more comprehensive comparison of the performance of clinker and cement to the literature. In addition, the similarity with published values demonstrates reliability for LCA results, except ionizing radiation, ozone layer depletion, and respiratory organics in IMPACT 2002+ for clinker, CEM-I, and CEM-II; fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marine aquatic ecotoxicity in CML (baseline) for CEM-I; and photochemical oxidant formation: ecosystem quality and human health in ReCiPe for CEM-I. This low variability with the reported values in the literature suggests the capability of using the benchmarking approach as a proxy in a context of lack of data.
... In 2017, the production of cement had reached 4,100 million tonnes globally. 56 Cement production contributes about 7-8 % of CO 2 to the atmosphere; half of it is contributed because of the calcination process (i.e., decarbonation of limestone), whereas energy use like electricity and fossil fuels contributes another half. 57 This high emission of CO 2 by conventional binders has an adverse effect on global warming. ...
Peat is formed from organic matter (OM) in wetlands under an anaerobic environment. Peat is considered weak and problematic soil because of high-water retaining capability, high compressibility, and low shear strength. The cement is generally used to stabilize peat, but cement production is energy intensive and contributes 7–8 % of total carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Nowadays, there is a need to use a potential “greener” alternative that is sustainable in the long term. Therefore, this research assesses the feasibility of rice husk ash (RHA)–based alkali-activated binder (AAB)–stabilized peat with varying fiber content (6–73 %) and OM (21–79 %). The RHA-based AAB was prepared by adding bauxite powder (as alumina source) to RHA in proportion to keep constant silica to alumina ratio (silica/alumina = 3). The samples were prepared using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) of molarities 3, 6, and 9 to activate the binder with percentages 10, 20, and 30 % by weight of dry peat and alkali (A) to binder (B) ratio chosen as 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9. The results illustrate that the factors like pH of pore solution, the molarity of NaOH, binder content, A/B ratio, OM, and curing affect the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of treated peat. The maximum UCS of 962, 873, and 668 kPa was found at an optimum combination of molarity (6M), binder content (20 %), and A/B ratio (0.7) for sapric, fibric, and hemic peat. It was seen that OM has a negative impact, whereas the curing period positively impacts the UCS of treated peat. Furthermore, the cumulative mass loss of fibric peat (13.6 %) is more than hemic (11.4 %) and sapric (10.6 %) peat. The X-ray diffraction patterns and field emission scanning electron microscopy micrographs confirm the cementitious minerals that fill pore spaces or cavities to form a smooth and dense gel responsible for strength gain.
... Reducing clinker content with limestone addition reduced effects by 7-12%. Tun et al. (2020) [26] used a life cycle assessment to quantitatively compare the global warming potential of several cement production methods. It identified the potential for reducing cement's carbon footprint, such as employing mixed cement and carbon sequestration in cement kiln dust. ...
... Reducing clinker content with limestone addition reduced effects by 7-12%. Tun et al. (2020) [26] used a life cycle assessment to quantitatively compare the global warming potential of several cement production methods. It identified the potential for reducing cement's carbon footprint, such as employing mixed cement and carbon sequestration in cement kiln dust. ...
Several environmental impacts are associated with cement production, ranging from high greenhouse gas (GHG) levels to high energy consumption (fossil fuel and electricity) to high resource usage. Due to the growing demand for cement in the industry and limited studies in South Africa, it is essential to evaluate the environmental impact of cement production in the South African context. In this study, an analysis of the production model of South African (SA) cement plants was carried out to quantify its impacts and decipher how they consequently affect lives, resources, and the ecosystem. This study carried out a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cement using both the mid-point and end-point approaches of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). This study carried out a cradle-to-gate analysis of 1 kg of cement produced in a typical SA plant. The result showed that for every 1 kg of cement produced, 0.993 CO2 eq was emitted into the atmosphere; 98.8% was actual CO₂ emission, and its resultant effect was global warming, which causes changes in climatic conditions. Also, 1.6 kg of 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB) eq was emitted into the air and water, which caused high toxicity in these media, and for every 1 kg of cement produced, 0.139 kg of oil eq was produced, and its effect was seen in fossil resources’ scarcity. The end-point result showed that 55,404 was the potential number of human lives that could be endangered annually; 133 species had the potential to be endangered annually, and the effect of a potential scarcity of resources caused a total marginal price increase of ZAR 6.2 billion due to these damages. In conclusion, this study prescribed mitigation and adaptation strategies to counter these environmental impacts.
... SimaPro software was used to conduct life cycle assessments and measure the environmental impacts of concrete made from replacing cement with coal fly ash. It has been extensively used in performing the LCA of concrete, cement, and other construction materials [25,[35][36][37][38]. ...
In many emerging economies, the impact of fly ash utilization for mass concrete applications considering industry practices is yet to be quantified. This study quantifies the environmental and economic impacts of fly ash utilization in mass concrete, considering different mix design strategies in actual practice. Thirty-one (31) concrete mixtures from batching plants in the Philippines with 28-day strength design of 13.8-69.0 MPa have been analyzed using life cycle assessment (LCA) in SimaPro 9.3. Results show that when cement is replaced by 10, 15, and 20% of fly ash by weight, the global warming potential values are reduced by 8.5-9.4%, 8.5-20.7%, and 2.4-19.2%, respectively. Increased fly ash replacement shows a more beneficial impact on normal to high-strength than low-strength concrete mixtures in all 18 midpoint categories. Contribution analysis shows that aggregates significantly affect land use, while admixture affects marine eutrophication. A comparative LCA with mixtures from Thailand suggests that designing the compressive strength of fly ash concrete at 56 days will significantly improve its sustainability compared to a 28-day design. The economic benefit of using fly ash is greater for high-strength than for low-strength mixtures. This study will contribute to improving the sustainability of mass concrete production and benefit countries with similar practices.
... The cement industry's environmental impact can be assessed using an LCA. Several studies have been investigated using LCA to evaluate the environmental impact of cement production in various countries, including Spain [22,27,28], Egypt and Switzerland [29], China [30,31], the European Union, the USA [15,16,32,33] and others [17,[34][35][36]. Tun et al. [35] evaluated the environmental impacts of the cement industry in Myanmar using LCA. ...
... Several studies have been investigated using LCA to evaluate the environmental impact of cement production in various countries, including Spain [22,27,28], Egypt and Switzerland [29], China [30,31], the European Union, the USA [15,16,32,33] and others [17,[34][35][36]. Tun et al. [35] evaluated the environmental impacts of the cement industry in Myanmar using LCA. They identify major environmental impacts such as climate change, photochemical oxidant formation, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, and fossil resource scarcity, with CO2, NOx, SO2, and PM2.5 emissions from clinker production being the key contributors, suggesting the need for mitigation options such as energy-saving measures, alternative fuels and materials and process upgrades to promote sustainable development in the industry. ...
... The endpoint analysis's results are consistent with those found in the literature, with CO 2 emissions and the clinkering stage being the most significant contributors [30,35]. The resources used by Chen et al. [30] and Tun et al. [35] differ because coal was the primary fossil fuel used to produce cement. ...
The cement industry is among the growing industries globally that negatively impact human health and global warming due to various substances released into the water, air and soil. This impact and potential damage have been studied in several ways to understand their effects, but more details are still needed. This study examines the damage done by producing 1 kg of cement in South Africa using the Recipe 2016 endpoint method. It also conducted an uncertainty analysis using the Monte Carlo method to confirm and establish its credibility. The results showed that the clinkering stage causes the most damage to human health (49%) and ecosystems 60% due to large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. The result showed high uncertainty in Water consumption, Human health, Water consumption, Terrestrial ecosystem, Aquatic ecosystems, Human carcinogenic toxicity and Ionizing radiation. These results align with existing literature but highlight the specific contributions of clinkering.
... However, transportation is relatively lower in hybrid cement mortars, therefore, less impact on mineral resource depletion has been observed for hybrid cement mortars. OPC used in hybrid cement mortar also has a major contribution to the mineral resource scarcity potential (Tun et al., 2020). OPC manufacturing also involves the use of minerals and metals including calcium, silicon, aluminum and iron, hence increased consumption of OPC from HC1 to HC5 has raised the mineral resource depletion. ...
Owing to the application of industrial wastes, geopolymers are generally regarded as a sustainable alternative to traditional construction materials. However, their lack of adoption on the industrial scale demands detailed investigations. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the compressive strength of different geopolymer and hybrid cement mortars with varying proportions of sodium hydroxide (from 5 to 25 wt%) and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) (from 15 to 35 wt%), respectively. The porosity of all designed mixtures was also analyzed using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) and water absorption tests. ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method was used for the Life cycle analysis of the geopolymer and hybrid cement mortars. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach was used to assess the sustainability potential of the designed mixtures based on compressive strength, porosity and overall environmental impact. Experimental results revealed that the increase in sodium hydroxide in geopolymer mortars up to 15 wt% offered its maximum compressive strength. Superior compressive strength was obtained at 35 wt% of OPC in hybrid cement mortars due to the formation of more C-S-H, C-A-S-H and N-A-S-H gels which fill up the voids and pores. Analysis of the macro and micro-porosity revealed that hybrid cement mortars yield denser structure than geopolymer mortars. Life cycle analysis based on 8 distinct impact categories showed that hybrid cement mortars outperform the geopolymers in all impact categories except ‘mineral resource scarcity’. However, the overall environmental impact assessment using the ‘coefficient of performance’ depicts that hybrid cement mortars offer a significantly lower environmental burden than geopolymers. MCDM analysis shows that hybrid cement mortar with 5 wt% of sodium hydroxide and 35 wt% of OPC is the best choice for construction applications. This idea of sustainable hybrid cement mortar will be helpful for the construction industry to limit the environmental impact without compromising their structural performance.
... Research is being conducted to investigate new production technologies including carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in an effort to reduce CO 2 emissions from cement plants [22]. Cement production has a significant environmental impact, mostly because of its resource-intensive nature and high carbon emissions [23]. To create a cement industry that is more environmentally friendly and sustainable, sustainable practices in the sector include investing in technologies that lower carbon emissions, embracing alternative resources, and increasing production efficiency. ...
Manufacturing cement has a major impact on climate change, resource depletion, and pollution. Selecting sustainable cement alternatives is vital but entails difficult trade-offs between numerous variables. The objective of this study is to determine the most environmentally beneficial method of cement manufacturing by employing an integrated life cycle assessment multi-criteria decision-making technique. The LCA is employed to quantitatively evaluate the environmental effects of ten different methods of cement production across eighteen distinct categories. Meanwhile, the CRITIC weighted TOPSIS and EDAS MCDM approaches are utilized to rank the various alternatives by determining their proximity to the optimal solution. The LCA results showed that CEM III/A slag cement had lower environmental impacts than Portland cement. With a ranking score of 0.9094 and 1.7228 for EDAS and TOPSIS techniques, respectively, both MCDM identified CM10: ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as the most recommended. In addition, midpoint characterization revealed that clinker production was responsible for 55% of the global warming impact. Based on these findings, slag cements are more environmentally friendly than Portland cement. Furthermore, an integrated LCA-MCDM approach offers a thorough sustainability evaluation that incorporates many aspects. Overall, this research shows that blast furnace slag cements, notably CM10, are ideal alternatives for reducing the environmental consequences of cement production in a variety of areas. This integrated methodology provides a systematic framework for making informed decisions in the production of sustainable cement.
