Are LCA Studies on Bulk Mineral Waste Management Suitable for Decision Support? A Critical Review

Bulk mineral waste materials are one of the largest waste streams worldwide and their management systems can differ greatly depending on regional conditions. Due to this variation, the decision-making context is of particular importance when studying environmental impacts of mineral waste management systems with life cycle assessment (LCA).We follow the premise that LCA results—if applied in practice—are always used in an improvement (i.e., decision-making) context. But how suitable are existing LCA studies on bulk mineral waste management for decision support? To answer this question, we quantitatively and qualitatively assess 57 peer-reviewed bulk mineral waste management LCA studies against 47 criteria. The results show inadequacies regarding decision support along all LCA phases. Common shortcomings are insufficient attention to the specific decision-making context, lack of a consequential perspective, liberal use of allocation and limited justification thereof, missing justifications for excluded impact categories, inadequately discussed limitations, and incomplete documentation. We identified the following significant issues for bulk mineral waste management systems: transportation, the potential leaching of heavy metals, second-order substitution effects, and the choice to include or exclude avoided landfilling and embodied impacts. When applicable, we provide recommendations for improvement and point to best practice examples

An Ex-ante LCA Study of Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Scrap Using Molten Salt Electrolysis

A new recycling process for the extraction of rare earths from neodymium–iron–boron (NdFeB) magnet scrap is being developed, based on the direct extraction of rare earths from end-of-life magnet material in a molten fluoride electrolysis bath. Rare earths are required in their metallic form for the production of new NdFeB magnets, and the suggested process achieves this through a single step. The process is being developed on a laboratory scale and has been proven to work in principle. It is expected to be environmentally beneficial when compared to longer processing routes. Conducting life cycle assessment at R&D stage can provide valuable information to help steer process development into an environmentally favorable direction. We conducted a life cycle assessment study to provide a quantitative estimate of the impacts associated with the process being developed and to compare the prospective impacts against those of the current state-of-the-art technology. The comparison of this recycling route with primary production shows that the recycling process has the potential for much lower process-specific impacts when compared against the current rare earth primary production route. The study also highlights that perfluorocarbon emissions, which occur during primary rare earth production, warrant further investigation

An Ex-ante LCA Study of Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Scrap Using Molten Salt Electrolysis

A new recycling process for the extraction of rare earths from neodymium–iron–boron (NdFeB) magnet scrap is being developed, based on the direct extraction of rare earths from end-of-life magnet material in a molten fluoride electrolysis bath. Rare earths are required in their metallic form for the production of new NdFeB magnets, and the suggested process achieves this through a single step. The process is being developed on a laboratory scale and has been proven to work in principle. It is expected to be environmentally beneficial when compared to longer processing routes. Conducting life cycle assessment at R&D stage can provide valuable information to help steer process development into an environmentally favorable direction. We conducted a life cycle assessment study to provide a quantitative estimate of the impacts associated with the process being developed and to compare the prospective impacts against those of the current state-of-the-art technology. The comparison of this recycling route with primary production shows that the recycling process has the potential for much lower process-specific impacts when compared against the current rare earth primary production route. The study also highlights that perfluorocarbon emissions, which occur during primary rare earth production, warrant further investigation

Schlussbericht Vorhaben BioEnergieDat

Das Vorhaben BioEnergieDat zielt auf die Bereitstellung einer aktuellen und umfassenden Datenbasis für die energetische Nutzung von Biomasse. Diese soll Informationen über den Stand der Technik, die ökologischen Effekte sowie ökonomische Kenngrößen von Produktions-, Bereitstellungs- und Konversionsprozessen enthalten. Sie ist nutzbar für die modular aufgebaute Bilanzierung von Prozessketten in einer im Vorhaben entwickelten öffentlich zugänglichen Open Source Software. Laufzeit: September 2010 - August 2012. Das Vorhaben besteht aus folgenden Teilaufgaben: Bereitstellung einer validen, konsistenten Datenbasis auf Grundlage existierender Daten zu Technologien der energetischen Nutzung von Biomasse; Erweiterung der vorliegenden Datenbasis, insbesondere im Hinblick auf in Entwicklung befindliche Technologien; Erarbeitung von unter deutschen Rahmenbedingungen repräsentativen Datensätzen für Technologien und biomassebasierte Energieträger; Bereitstellung einer webbasierten IT-Infrastruktur für eine flexible, modulare Nutzung und Fortschreibung der Datenbasis. Die Ergebnisse des Vorhabens sollen insbesondere die Entwicklung einer nachhaltigen und tragfähigen Biomassestrategie der Bundesregierung unterstützen. Sie leisten insofern auch einen Beitrag, die energiewirtschaftliche, stoffwirtschaftliche und ernährungswirtschaftliche Nutzung von Biomasse als komplexes Gesamtproblem zu behandeln. Die Bearbeitung erfolgt in einem Konsortium au