Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Section 1 describes the boron reserves, borate extraction techniques, beneficiation techniques, and chemical process for derivation of boric acid (BA), borax pentahydrate (BP), borax decahydrate (BD), and sodium perborate (SP).
- Section 2 describes the methodology within the scope of four main stages of LCA.
- Section 3 discusses the analysis results in the context of comparative impact categories.
- Section 4 discusses the results compared with the literature.
- Section 5 concludes with the summary of analysis results and recommendations to reduce the environmental effects of all the stages of the boron industry, from mining to refined products.
1.1. Boron Mining in Turkey
1.2. Boron Processing Method in Turkey
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Goal and Scope Definition of the Study
- Determining all the environmental impacts that occurred by all the steps in the boron mining industry in Turkey, such as climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, air emissions, etc. such that these results will help to other cradle-to-gate LCA studies where boron included.
- Comparison of the results between different processes,
- Understanding the impacts of each flow (types of boron).
- The system boundaries can be evaluated as the main system and subsystems. The main system consists of mining, beneficiation, and refinement. The subsystem of the mining is the drilling, blasting, extraction, loading, hauling, and transportation; the subsystem of the beneficiation is the apron feeder, classifier screw, jaw crusher, dust collecting system, roll crusher, belt conveyors, and washing; the subsystem of the refinement is the dissolving tank, sieving, pressure filtration, crystallizer, and dryer. Since the cradle-to-gate approach was selected, the transportation for final delivery, the packaging of refined products, the use of the products, recycling, recovery, or final disposal are excluded.
- FU: Comparison of 1 ton of refined boron products: BA, BD, BP, and SP.
2.2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Analysis
2.3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)
2.4. Interpretation
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
BA | Boric Acid |
BD | Borax Decahydrate |
BP | Borax Pentahydrate |
kg CO2 eq | Carbon Dioxide Equivalent |
kg CFC-11 eq | Ozone Depletion Potential OZDP kg CFC-11 Equivalent |
CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for Humans |
kBq U235 eq | Unit for Ionizing Radiation Described in Kilo Becquerel |
U-235 Equivalent | |
kg NMVOC eq | Non-methane Volatile Organic Compounds Equivalent |
Molc N eq | Mole of Nitrogen Equivalent |
kg P eq | Kilograms of Phosphorus Equivalent |
kg N eq | Kilogram of Nitrogen Equivalent |
CTUe | Comparative Toxic Unit for Ecosystems |
kg C deficit | Kilograms of Carbon Deficit |
m³ water eq | Volume of Water Equivalent |
kg Sb eq | Kilogram of Antimony Equivalent |
MJ | Mega Joule |
SP | Sodium Perborate |
Appendix A
Usage Industry | Usage Area |
---|---|
Military and armored vehicles | Armor plates, ceramic plates, firearm barrels, etc. |
Glass | Borosilicate glasses, laboratory glasses, aircraft glasses, boron glass, pyrex, insulated glass fiber, textile glass fiber, optical fibers, glass ceramics, bottles, other float glasses, automotive glasses, etc. |
Electronics and Computer | Current plates, heat-wear resistant fiber optic cables, semiconductors, vacuum tubes, dielectric materials, capacitors, delayed fuses, microchips, LCD screens, CD drivers, electrical capacitors, batteries, laser printer toners, cell phones, modems, televisions, etc. |
Energy | Storage of solar energy, solar cells, fuel cells, etc. |
Photography and Vision Systems | Camera, lenses, cameras, and binoculars. |
Pharmaceutical and Cosmetics | Disinfectants, antiseptics, toothpastes, lens solutions, colognes, perfumes, shampoos, etc. |
Agricultural | Biological growth and control chemicals, fertilizers, pest-plant killers, weeds, etc. |
Chemical | Reduction of some chemicals, electrolytic processes, flotation drugs, bath solutions, catalysts, petroleum paints for waste cleaning purposes, non-flammable and non-melting paints, textile paints, adhesives, cooling chemicals, corrosion inhibitors, ink, paste and varnishes, matches, lime inhibitors, disinfectant liquids, soap, powder detergents, powder whiteners, brighteners, embalming, etc. |
Construction | For enhancing strength and insulation of cement |
Protector | Wood materials, wood preservatives, dryers of paint and varnish |
Nuclear | Reactor components, neutron absorbers, reactor control rods, safety purposes in accidents, and nuclear waste storage |
Space and aviation | Friction-abrasion and heat resistant materials, rocket fuel, satellites, planes, helicopters, zeppelins, balloons, etc. |
Medicine | In osteoporosis treatment, allergic diseases, psychiatry, bone development, and magnetic resonance imaging devices |
Automotive | Airbags, hydraulics, plastic parts, metal parts, oils, antifreezes, etc. |
Metallurgy | In the coating industry, stainless and alloy steel, abrasion-resistant materials, abrasives, etc. |
Paper | As a whitener |
Sports equipment | Ski equipment, tennis rackets, fishing rods, golf clubs, impact protectors, etc. |
Textile | Heat resistant fabrics, fire retardant, preventive cellulosic materials, isolation materials, textile dyes, leather colorants, artificial silk polishing materials, etc. |
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Facility | Ore Reserve (ton) | Extracted Run-of-Ore | Concentrated Products | Refined Products |
---|---|---|---|---|
Emet | 1,806,998.09 | Colemanite | Colemanite | BA |
Bigadiç | 620,689.75 | Colemanite and Ulexite | Colemanite and Ulexite | Grained Colemanite |
Kırka | 17,924,014 | Tincal | Tincal | BD, BP |
Anhydrous Borax | ||||
Kestelek | 5,254,923 | Colemanite | Colemanite | - |
Bandırma | - | - | - | BA, BD, BP, SP, Boron Oxide |
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Türkbay, T.; Laratte, B.; Çolak, A.; Çoruh, S.; Elevli, B. Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products. Sustainability 2022, 14, 1787. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031787
Türkbay T, Laratte B, Çolak A, Çoruh S, Elevli B. Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products. Sustainability. 2022; 14(3):1787. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031787
Chicago/Turabian StyleTürkbay, Tuğçe, Bertrand Laratte, Ayşenur Çolak, Semra Çoruh, and Birol Elevli. 2022. "Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products" Sustainability 14, no. 3: 1787. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031787
APA StyleTürkbay, T., Laratte, B., Çolak, A., Çoruh, S., & Elevli, B. (2022). Life Cycle Assessment of Boron Industry from Mining to Refined Products. Sustainability, 14(3), 1787. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031787