Lifecycle assessment of gas, liquid, container, bulk, and tanker loading in petrochemical Port

Ports are involved in transferring more than 80% of materials and goods. With life cycle assessment, all environmental impacts are assessed simultaneously and this method has not been implemented for non-container ports. The goal of the study is life cycle assessment of liquid, gas, container, bulk, and tanker loading in the port to define the most impactful sub-processes in the port operations. Life cycle assessment is done from the source of production to the port (scope 1) and from the gate of the port to loading to ships (scope 2). One MMt of loading material is considered as functional unit. The results of the study showed that the impacts of scope 1 are far lower than scope 2 and it is worth focusing on scope 2 for any environmental improvements. In the global warming impact, gas loading has the highest share of 35%, of which 50% is due to electricity, and 45% is due to flaring. Bulk loading with a share of 30% entirely due to electricity is the second. Liquid loading with a share of 20% has the third rank as a result of electricity by 95%. It can be seen that in all sub-processes, electricity has a major role in all impact categories. In port operation LCA, per each MMt of total loading, bulk, liquid, and gas loading have the highest share over 18 impact categories to different extents. It is suggested to develop improving scenarios focused on electricity consumption, considering renewable energy sources, and no flaring for the port.