Survey the environmental impact of cement production using life cycle assessment

The cement industry despite its positive economic and social effects, is facing important challenges regarding the reduction of raw materials and energy demands, and CO2 emissions. It should be noted the production of materials without considering the elements of the environment, is not consistent with the attitude of sustainable development. Although many advances have been reached in the last decades through technology improvements, the use of alternative materials and fuels still can be further explored. The Zabol cement industry is considered economically efficient. Nevertheless, there are no scientific studies regarding environmental concerns in. The life cycle assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive tool for collecting and analyzing the potential environmental inpute, and consequence of producing a product or commodity. This study aims to assess the environmental impacts of gray cement production in Sistan cement factory using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The analysis and evaluation of environmental impact of cement was done using SimapRo software (version 9) and Ecoinvent database (version 3.4) based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The 18 midpoint and 3 endpoint impact categories have been determined by using ReCiPe midpoint H and ReCiPe endpoint H respectively. Emissions, heavy fuel oil, pozzolan and electricity have the highest contribution to most of the surveyed impact categories. The sensitivity analysis also indicated the influence of the mentioned cases on the results.  Thus, with a 20% reduction in pozzolan, heavy fuel oil and electricity consumption could reduce the destruction of fossil resource scarcity, global warming and human and ecosystem toxicity. The total endpoint score was 27 Pt, mainly associated to the human health damage category. The most important factor affecting the mentioned result was related to the formation of suspended particles less than 2.5 micrometers. The cumulative energy demand assessment indicated fossil fuels had the highest consumption with 97.89% and other sources has the least energy participation. The results illustrated replacement of fossil fuels by alternative fuels can be an option to decrease impacts regarding fossil fuels consumption and atmospheric emissions from the cement production process.