Variability in the environmental impacts of aggregate production

A. Jullien, C. Proust, T. Martaud, E. Rayssac and C. Ropert

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2012, vol. 62, issue C, 1-13

Abstract: While LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is considered to yield either generic or regionally/technologically specific data on products, this method's implementation can reveal a certain variability due to the nature of the local industrial process as well as to heterogeneous site characteristics in the case of natural aggregate production. Energy consumption and the release of atmospheric emissions from aggregate production processes have been investigated in this study at three quarry sites, which encompass two types of rock (and include explosives). This paper describes the methodology adopted for the specific local production investigation and offers results for the three quarry sites using seven indicators derived from the LCA framework. Site characteristics and differences have been assessed in terms of plant equipment and off-road vehicles, and a detailed description is provided of the grading conducted onsite. It is found that fine grading consumes more energy for production, given the fact this type of grading is recycled inside the plant.

Keywords: Environmental assessment; Impacts; Quarry; LCA; Hard rocks; Soft rocks; Aggregates; Environmental impacts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:62:y:2012:i:c:p:1-13

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2012.02.002

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