Life cycle assessment of a small-scale incinerator combined with heating production

Abstract

This research studies the environmental impacts of a small-scale incinerator combined with heating production (ICH), which has a combustion rate of refuse derived fuel type three (RDF-3) of approximately 2 ton/day, a life span of approximately 20 y, and a functional unit of approximately 1 kgRDF-3. A life cycle assessment (LCA) under the standard of ISO 14040 is used to investigate the 10 impacts by using the SimaPro program under the ReCiPe midpoint and endpoint methods. From the study results, it found that ten LCA impacts of the small-scale ICH under the midpoint level are a climate change of 3.50E-04 kg CO2 eq, an ozone depletion of 1.76E-10 kg CFC-11 eq, a human toxicity of 8.87E-02 kg 1,4 DB eq, a particulate matter formation of 9.40E-06 PM10 eq, a terrestrial acidification of 1.64E-05 kgSO2 eq, an eutrophication of 2.21E-06 P eq, a terrestrial ecotoxicity of 2.54E-06 kg 1,4 DB eq, a freshwater ecotoxicity of 1.43E-04 kg 1,4 DB eq, a metal depletion of 5.84-E04 kg Fe eq, and a fossil depletion of 9.25E-04 kg oil eq. The LCA impacts are found in the construction, operation, and decommissioning phases at approximately 42.52%, 66.50%, and -9.02%, respectively. The main environmental affect are essentially driven by an electricity of 47,580 kWh, and a steel of 3,900 kg. Finally, the LCA single score under the endpoint level is found at approximately 474.34 Pt