Life Cycle Assessment of Cobalt Extraction Process T ∗ Shahjadi Hisan Farjana, Nazmul Huda , M.A
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Journal of Sustainable Mining 18 (2019) 150–161 H O S T E D B Y Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Sustainable Mining journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsm Research paper Life cycle assessment of cobalt extraction process T ∗ Shahjadi Hisan Farjana, Nazmul Huda , M.A. Parvez Mahmud Sustainable Energy Systems Engineering Group, School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: This paper presents the results of an investigation carried out on the impacts of cobalt extraction process using a Life cycle assessment life cycle assessment by considering a cradle-to-gate system. Life cycle inventory data was collected from the Environmental impact EcoInvent and Australian Life cycle assessment database (AusLCI) and analysis were performed using SimaPro Cobalt extraction software employing the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, and Cumulative Energy Mining Demand method (CED) for per kg of cobalt production. Several impact categories are considered in the analysis Sustainability i.e. global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication, land use, water use, fossil fuels, minerals, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and cumulative energy demand. The analysis results indicate that among the impact categories, eutrophication and global warming impacts are noteworthy. Medium voltage electricity used in cobalt pro- duction and the blasting operation appears to be causing most of the impact and emission into the environment. The sensitivity analysis was carried out using three different case scenarios by altering the electricity generation sources of UCTE (Synchronous Grid of Continental Europe) to investigate the proportional variation of impact analysis results. Furthermore, the impacts caused by cobalt production are compared with nickel and copper production processes to reveal their relative impacts on the environment and ecosystems. 1. Introduction or from mining areas. Therefore, identifying the possible impacts on human health and ecosystems, and minimizing them is the prime mo- Cobalt is a valuable metal found in the earth's crust which is ex- tivation of this research to ensure the sustainable extraction process of tensively used in a wide range of industrial and military applications cobalt worldwide. To date, no research has reported the life cycle as- (Tkaczyk, Bartl, Amato, Lapkovskis, & Petranikova, 2018). In recent sessment of the cobalt extraction process and quantified the environ- years, due to the diverse range of its industrial application, the demand mental effects on human health and ecosystems. for cobalt has increased significantly and, as a result, the global pro- Life cycle assessment is a valuable tool that is used to conduct the duction of cobalt has increased. Consequently, the environmental im- environmental impact assessment of different metal extraction pro- pacts are also increasing with the increased production level. Particles cesses. Life cycle assessment assesses impacts on the environment, emitted during cobalt mining consists radioactive emissions, cancer- human health, land, water, and soil during mining and other similar causing particles, and particles which may cause vision problems, vo- processes, as visible in some previous studies (Mahmud, Huda, Farjana, miting and nausea, heart problems, and Thyroid damage. Cobalt is an & Lang, 2018a, 2018b). There are several pieces of published research important gamma-ray source which is used as a radio therapeutic agent based on the life cycle assessment of metal mining processes, which for cancer treatment (Baskar, Lee, Yeo, & Yeoh, 2012). A high con- quantified the environmental burdens associated with the metalor centration of cobalt may cause asthma or pneumonia, through the process studied. Among others, research on aluminum, copper, coal, breathing of a high concentration of cobalt (Ruokonen, Linnainmaa, gold, nickel, iron, zinc, manganese, steel, ilmenite, rutile, and uranium Seuri, Juhakoski, & Söderström, 1996). Cobalt particles may also affect has been published to date. Most of these studies are primarily focused ecosystems through accumulation in fruit or plant seeds which grow in on assessing the impacts on global warming, energy demand, and contaminated soils. In the natural environment, cobalt comes into acidification potential. Only a few studies consist of a full LCAstudy contact with soil, water, rocks, and plants and once it enters the en- which contains impact analysis based on several categories of human vironment, it cannot be destroyed (Fordyce, 2013). Cobalt reaches the health, ecosystems, and resources. environment through air-blown dust, surface water, and radioactivity Table 1 highlights some of the significant pieces of research ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.H. Farjana), [email protected] (N. Huda), [email protected] (M.A.P. Mahmud). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsm.2019.03.002 Received 30 November 2018; Received in revised form 1 March 2019; Accepted 1 March 2019 Available online 06 March 2019 2300-3960/ © 2019 Central Mining Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). S.H. Farjana, et al. Table 1 Research comparison of significant LCAs on mining processes. Metals Summary of the work Methods in use Impact on global Impactful material/process and impact warming and human category health Aluminum (Shahjadi Hisan Farjana, Huda, & Mahmud, Life cycle assessment of the aluminum supply chain in EDIP or UMIP 96 method using SimaPro 1.83E07 g CO2 eq./g Smelting and refining, electricity 2019a; Tan & Khoo, 2005) Australia was conducted, which consisted of the mine, software, ILCD and CED method using GWP consumption smelter, and refinery. SimaPro software 6.49E08 g based on EDIP human toxicity Copper (Haque & Norgate, 2014; Norgate & Haque, Life cycle assessment of copper production processes in ReCiPe and Australian indicator method 1 to 9 t CO2 eq. GWP Solvent extraction and electrowinning, 2010; Northey, Haque, Lovel, & Cooksey, 2014) Australia and globally electricity consumption Gold (Chen et al., 2018) A life cycle assessment was conducted based on China and ReCiPe method 5.55E4 kg CO2 eq. GWP Mining and comminution, electricity Australia 4.37E3 kg 1,4-DB eq. consumption human toxicity Iron (Ferreira & Leite, 2015) Life cycle assessment based on an iron mine located in IPCC method using SimaPro software 23.32 kg CO2 eq. Agglomeration, loading and haulage, Brazil was conducted 1.05E-05 DALY electricity consumption Ilmenite-rutile (Farjana, Huda, Mahmud, & Lang, 2018b) Life cycle assessment of ilmenite and rutile extraction ILCD method using SimaPro software 0.29 kg CO2 eq. Mining, electricity consumption processes was conducted in Australia 2.4E-10 CTUh Nickel (Khoo, Haque, Woodbridge, McDonald, & Life cycle assessment of nickel production processes in IMPACT 2002+, ReCiPe method, Australian 29 kg CO2 eq. GWP Primary extraction, nickel reduction and Bhattacharya, 2017; Mistry, Gediga, & Boonzaier, Australia and Indonesia Indicator method. smelting, electricity consumption 2016) Steel (Burchart-Korol, 2011; Burchart-Korol, 2013) Life cycle analysis of steel production in Poland is assessed IPCC 2007, GWP 100a, and CED method 2459 kg CO2 eq. for blast Integrated steel production and electric arc furnace steel furnace routes 913 kg CO2 eq. for electric arc furnace steel Uranium (Farjana, Huda, Mahmud, & Lang, 2018a) Life cycle impact assessment of different uranium ILCD method using SimaPro software 6.27 kg CO2 eq. Fuel enrichment, well field related extraction processes was conducted on a global scale 1.68E-08 CTUh activities, electricity consumption 151 used. underground mining method employing standard mining systems are 2.2. 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