Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Cost Analysis of Magnesia Spinel Brick Production

Aysun Özkan, Zerrin Günkaya, Gülden Tok, Levent Karacasulu, Melike Metesoy, Müfide Banar and Alpagut Kara
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Aysun Özkan: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26555, Turkey
Zerrin Günkaya: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26555, Turkey
Gülden Tok: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26555, Turkey
Levent Karacasulu: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26555, Turkey
Melike Metesoy: Sörmaş Söğüt Refractory Materials Inc., Bilecik 11660, Turkey
Müfide Banar: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26555, Turkey
Alpagut Kara: Ceramic Research Center Inc., Eskişehir 26555, Turkey

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Sustainable use of natural resources in the production of construction materials has become a necessity both in Europe and Turkey. Construction products in Europe should have European Conformity (CE) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), an independently verified and registered document in line with the European standard EN 15804. An EPD certificate can be created by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. In this particular work, an LCA study was carried out for a refractory brick production for environmental assessment. In addition to the LCA, the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis was also applied for economic assessment. Firstly, a cradle-to-gate LCA was performed for one ton of magnesia spinel refractory brick. The CML IA method included in the licensed SimaPro 8.0.1 software was chosen to calculate impact categories (namely, abiotic depletion, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, ozone depletion potential, and photochemical oxidation potential). The LCC analysis was performed by developing a cost model for internal and external cost categories within the software. The results were supported by a sensitivity analysis. According to the results, the production of raw materials and the firing process in the magnesia spinel brick production were found to have several negative effects on the environment and were costly.

Keywords: CML method; firing process; global warming potential; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); Life Cycle Cost (LCC); magnesia spinel brick; refractory production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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