000131748 001__ 131748
000131748 005__ 20250923084415.0
000131748 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1007/s11367-023-02257-8
000131748 0248_ $$2sideral$$a136991
000131748 037__ $$aART-2024-136991
000131748 041__ $$aeng
000131748 100__ $$aSáez de Guinoa Sentre, Javier$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000131748 245__ $$aThe effects of energy consumption of alumina production in the environmental impacts using life cycle assessment
000131748 260__ $$c2024
000131748 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted
000131748 5203_ $$aPurpose
Aluminium industry emits around 1–2% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Up to one-third of those are linked to the thermal energy consumed during its initial process: the alumina refining (Bayer process). Previous studies consider the Bayer process a single stage despite its being made of several reaction stages. This work presents a disaggregated energy analysis of the Bayer process that facilitates to find relationships between the main variables in regular alumina production and the environmental impacts.
Methods
Two different thermodynamic simulations of the Bayer process were carried out using Aspen V11 software. The results of these simulations were validated with referenced data, and afterwards, they were used to perform a life cycle assessment. ISO 14040 and 14,044 standards were followed during the analysis. LCA was implemented on SimaPro 9.0, and ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method was used to calculate environmental impacts. The influence of bauxite mineral form, type of fuel (energy input), and the distance from the mine to the plant was analysed throughout the study.
Results and discussion
As expected, the type of fuel was revealed as the most crucial factor in the environmental impact of alumina production, with potential savings of up to 75.5% of CO2-equivalent emissions. Nonetheless, the tendency is diverse for other indicators, such as marine eutrophication or terrestrial acidification. On the other hand, while bauxite transportation always has the same impact on the different environmental indicators, bauxite mineral form affects differently depending on the fuel, causing variations in the CO2-eq emissions from 7.7 to 51.3%.
Conclusions
Results indicated that the electrification of heat-demanding processes and the use of renewable power is the most effective approach for reducing environmental impacts. This strategy, however, must be considered in combination with others, as interdependent effects exist on the type of mineral used. These results provide strong evidence of the potential for environmentally friendly strategies in the metal industry, including new processes, alternative fuels, or mineral switching to promote more sustainable aluminium production.
000131748 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
000131748 590__ $$a5.4$$b2024
000131748 592__ $$a1.393$$b2024
000131748 591__ $$aENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES$$b79 / 374 = 0.211$$c2024$$dQ1$$eT1
000131748 593__ $$aEnvironmental Science (miscellaneous)$$c2024$$dQ1
000131748 591__ $$aENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL$$b26 / 83 = 0.313$$c2024$$dQ2$$eT1
000131748 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
000131748 700__ $$aGarcía-Franco, Enrique
000131748 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-6103-7136$$aLlera-Sastresa, Eva$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000131748 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0001-7379-6159$$aRomeo, Luis M.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000131748 7102_ $$15004$$2590$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Ingeniería Mecánica$$cÁrea Máquinas y Motores Térmi.
000131748 773__ $$g29 (2024), 380–393$$pInt. j. life cycle assess.$$tInternational Journal of Life Cycle Assessment$$x0948-3349
000131748 8564_ $$s1779864$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/131748/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada
000131748 8564_ $$s2497465$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/131748/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada
000131748 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:131748$$particulos$$pdriver
000131748 951__ $$a2025-09-22-14:32:44
000131748 980__ $$aARTICLE