Examining Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions of Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation Using the Life Cycle Assessment Method

Xuejie Deng, Yu Li, Hao Liu, Yile Zhao, Yinchao Yang, Xichen Xu, Xiaohui Cheng and Benjamin de Wit
Additional contact information
Xuejie Deng: School of Energy and Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Yu Li: School of Energy and Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Hao Liu: School of Energy and Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Yile Zhao: School of Energy and Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Yinchao Yang: Kailuan (Group) Co. Ltd., Tangshan 063018, China
Xichen Xu: Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xiaohui Cheng: Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Benjamin de Wit: Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Toronto, ON M5V 3K2, Canada

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a new geotechnical engineering technology used to strengthen soils and other materials. Although it is considered to be environmentally friendly, there is a lack of quantitative data and objective evaluation to support conclusions about its environmental impact. In this paper, the energy consumption and carbon emissions of MICP technology are quantitatively analyzed by using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The environmental effects of MICP technology are evaluated from the perspectives of resource consumption and environmental impact. The results show that for each tonne of calcium carbonate produced by MICP technology, 1.8 t standard coal is consumed and 3.4 t CO 2 is produced, among which 80.4% of the carbon emissions and 96% of the energy consumption come from raw materials. Comparing using MICP with cement, lime, and sintered brick, the current MICP application process consumes less non-renewable resources but has a greater environmental impact. The major environmental impact that MICP has is the production of smoke and ash, with secondary impacts being global warming, photochemical ozone creation, acidification, and eutrophication. In five potential application scenarios of MICP, including concrete, sintered brick, lime mortar, mine cemented backfill, and foundation reinforcement, the carbon emissions of MICP are 3 to 7 times greater than the emissions of traditional technologies. The energy consumption is 15 to 23 times. Based on the energy consumption and carbon emissions characteristics of MICP technology at the current condition, suggestions are given for the future research of MICP.

Keywords: microbial induced carbonate precipitation; life cycle assessment; energy consumption; carbon emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4856/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4856/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:4856-:d:543675

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().