Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Three Excavated Soil and Rock (ESR) Treatment Methods: A Case Study in Shenzhen City

Jing Bai (), Yi Ma, Qingbin Song, Zhijun Hu (), Yanqiu Li and Huabo Duan
Additional contact information
Jing Bai: The Institute for Sustainable Development, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR 999078, China
Yi Ma: Guangzhou Greenstone Carbon Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510000, China
Qingbin Song: Faculty of Innovation Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR 999078, China
Zhijun Hu: Construction First Group, The Fifth Construction Co., Ltd., Beijing 100024, China
Yanqiu Li: Construction First Group, The Fifth Construction Co., Ltd., Beijing 100024, China
Huabo Duan: School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: This study aimed to quantitatively assess the environmental impacts of different methods used for treating excavated soil and rock (ESR) in Shenzhen, namely landfilling, sintering, and non-sintering, using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The findings indicate that recycling ESR through sintering or non-sintering processes offers more sustainable alternatives than landfilling. The recycled products derived from ESR can effectively replace traditional building materials, thereby reducing their environmental impacts. However, when comparing the environmental impacts of sintering and non-sintering processes, the latter demonstrated more significant impacts, particularly in terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), and eutrophication potential (EP). Furthermore, it is worth noting that the environmental impacts of the sintering processes are influenced by fuel type and exhaust gas emissions, with natural gas combustion yielding more substantial overall environmental benefits. Moreover, ESR landfilling poses constraints on sustainable development and land resource occupation. This study contributes to a better understanding of the environmental impacts associated with ESR landfilling and recycling, provides management departments with optimal ESR management suggestions, and alleviates environmental pressure from urban development.

Keywords: excavated soil and rock; life cycle assessment; landfilling; sintering; non-sintering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/2022/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/2022/ (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:16:y:2024:i:5:p:2022-:d:1348770

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 ().