| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4471567 | Waste Management | 2013 | 10 Pages |
This work is a part of a wider study involving the economic and environmental implications of managing construction and demolition waste (CDW), focused on the operation of a large scale CDW recycling plant. This plant, to be operated in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (including the Setúbal peninsula), is analysed for a 60 year period, using primary energy consumption and CO2eq emission impact factors as environmental impact performance indicators.Simplified estimation methods are used to calculate industrial equipment incorporated, and the operation and transport related impacts. Material recycling – sorted materials sent to other industries, to act as input – is taken into account by discounting the impacts related to industrial processes no longer needed.This first part focuses on calculating the selected impact factors for a base case scenario (with a 350 tonnes/h installed capacity), while a sensitivity analysis is provided in part two. Overall, a 60 year global primary energy consumption of 71.4 thousand toe (tonne of oil equivalent) and a total CO2eq emission of 135.4 thousand tonnes are expected. Under this operating regime, around 563 thousand toe and 1465 thousand tonnes CO2eq could be prevented by replacing raw materials in several construction materials industries (e.g.: ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, paper and cardboard).
► The main environmental impacts prevented derive from virgin material replacement. ► They can be up to 10 times those generated from the CDW recycling operation. ► This figure relates to industrial processes and includes transportation needs. ► Another issue is CO2eq. emission savings in operating a CDW recycling plant. ► They can be up to 10 times those from a MSW processing network.
