Critical Analysis for Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Cementitious Materials Production and Sustainable Solutions

Adel Ali Al-Gheethi, Zubair Ahmed Memon, Ali Tighnavard Balasbaneh, Walid A. Al-Kutti, Norfaniza Mokhtar, Norzila Othman, Mohd Irwan Juki, Efaq Ali Noman and Hassan Amer Algaifi
Additional contact information
Adel Ali Al-Gheethi: Eco Hydrology Technology Research Centre (Eco-Hytech), Faculty of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia
Zubair Ahmed Memon: Department of Engineering Management, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Ali Tighnavard Balasbaneh: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia
Walid A. Al-Kutti: Department of Civil & Construction Engineering, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Saudi Arabia
Norfaniza Mokhtar: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia
Norzila Othman: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia
Mohd Irwan Juki: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia
Efaq Ali Noman: Department of Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz 6803, Yemen
Hassan Amer Algaifi: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat 86400, Johor, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to study the life cycle assessment of biocementitious materials production in comparison to traditional cement materials production. The environmental impact of production processes over the life cycle was evaluated on the basis of global warming and ozone depletion, human health, land, freshwater, marine ecotoxicity, and natural water system eutrophication. LCA uses endpoint methods (ECO indicators) and SimaPro 8 software to assess the health and environmental impact of raw materials used in the production process, including cement, Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ·4H 2 O, urea, molasses, and electricity. The results showed that cement materials made 82.88% of the world’s warming in all raw materials used in production processes, 87.24% of the world’s health, 89.54% of the deforestation of freshwater, and 30.48% to marine eutrophication. Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ·4H 2 O contributes by 58.88% to ozone depletion, 15.37 to human carcinogenic toxicity, 3.19% to freshwater eutrophication, and 11.76% to marine eutrophication. In contrast, urea contributes 38.15% to marine eutrophication and 5.25% to freshwater eutrophication. Molasses contribute by 13.77% to marine eutrophication. Cement contributes 74.27% to human health damage, 79.36% to ecosystem damage; Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ·4H 2 O contributes 13.54% to human health damage and 9.99% to ecosystem damage; while urea contributes 6.5% to human health damage and 5.91% to ecosystem damage. Bio-cementitious wastewater should undergo a treatment process to remove urea and molasses residues, as well as nitrates, before final disposal into the environment.

Keywords: global warming; human health; ecotoxicity; eutrophication; urea; molasses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1920/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1920/ (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:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1920-:d:744378

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 ().