Assessing the environmental impacts of copper cathode production based on life cycle assessment

Abstract

Copper demand is growing considerably in parallel to economic and technological development. The rate increase in copper consumption in Iran adds pressure on the numerous unexploited mines in southeast Iran and induces the environmental crisis alongside the northern Levar wind in this area. Given this, this study was carried out to systematically explore the environmental impacts of a one‐ton copper cathode processing operation from a cradle‐to‐gate perspective using life cycle assessment (LCA). Moreover, the release of greenhouse gases and the energy consumption within the copper cathode production were also assessed. The results indicated that sulfuric acid utilization in the smelting and extraction stages, metal leaching from tailings, and CO2 dominated more than 50% of contributions to freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and global warming, respectively. The energy analysis showed 88.92% of crude oil utilization to provide the energy demand, especially for the electrowinning stage, which should be promoted technologically. For global warming, the indirect CO2 emission from electricity consumption with a source of fossil fuels was the main contributor (94.56%). Therefore, shifting from conventional energy systems towards renewable energy systems could alleviate the overall environmental impact. According to a 0.57‐ton sulfuric acid effluent per one‐ton copper cathode production, its treatment and reuse in the process is recommended. Summing up, the results of this study provide the environmental hotspots for copper cathode production for further investigations.

A Literature Review of the Environmental and Health Risks of Copper Foil Manufacturing Plants in Relation to a New Facility Planned in Catalonia, Spain

“…These impacts include-among others-water and soils pollution, and emissions of greenhouse gases [18][19][20][21][22][23] . The potential ecotoxicological effects of copper are also another issue of concern related to the presence of environmental copper [24][25][26][27][28] . As a result, the copper industry is facing increasing scrutiny and pressure to reduce its environmental footprint.…”

“…Consequently, high recovery rates for these elements should ensure that much recycled materials might replace raw materials. Recently, Shahraki et al [24] published an interesting review focused on two main objectives: (a) the environmental evaluation of copper cathode production at midpoint and endpoint levels, and (b) the assessment of its contribution to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The study was based on life cycle assessment (LCA).…”