Research On The Application Of Life Cycle Assessment Methods In Two Copper Smelting Processes

Along with the vigorous development of industr ia lizatio n and the huge improve me nt of human productivity,in the process of human's continuo us conque s t of nature,the excessive acquisitio n and processing and use of natural resources als o form the "revenge " of nature.As a "major polluter ",copper industr y is ofte n accompanied by serious environme nta l pollutio n problems.The major polluta n ts produced include sulfur dioxide,nitroge n oxides,etc.Meanwhile,China,as the world's largest producer and consumer of refined copper,is facing grea t environme nta l pressure.In order to comply with the nationa l policy requireme nts and the long-ter m development law of enterprises,The resource consumptio n and environme nta l impact of cathode copper production have to be reduced in a shor t time.Life cycle assessment(LCA),as an environme nta l assessment method fo r product life cycle,can effective ly diagnose the environme nta l impacts of cathod e copper life cycle process.According to ISO14040 and GB24040 standards,this paper introduces the technica l framework of life cycle assessment into the copper smeltin g industr y,clarifies the research objectives and scope,and constructs the life cyc le impact assessment model.Collect data of each unit process of life cycle of produc ing cathode copper by JinFeng copper smelting process and SKS copper smelting process,and establish life cycle inventor y data from "cradle to factory".Five types of environme nta l impacts,namely,abiotic depletion potential,glo b a l warming potential,acidificatio n potential,photochemic a l ozone creation potentia l and health threatening,were selected.The life cycle evaluatio n results of JinF e ng copper smelting process and SKS copper smelting process were compared and analyzed,and the key stages of JinFeng copper smelting process and SKS copper smelting process were identified.The following conclus io ns are drawn:(1)The environme nta l impact types of copper produced by SKS copper smeltin g process and JinFeng copper smelting process are,in turn,the consumptio n of abio tic depletion potential,acidificatio n potential,global warming potentia l,photochemic a l ozone creation potential and health threatening.In addition,the main environme nta l load contributio ns of the two copper smelting processes for cathode copper production are abiotic depletion potential,global warming potential and acidifica t io n potential.The environme nta l impact types of SKS copper smelting process account for 85.39%,7.82% and 5.94% respectively,and that of JinFeng copper smeltin g process for 86.45%,7.07% and 5.90% respective ly.(2)Copper mining and dressing stage has the largest contributio n to the consumptio n of abiotic depletion potential and global warming potential of cathod e copper produced by two kinds of copper smelting processes.It can increase the sla g concentrate recovered from copper slag as smelting raw materia l to reduce the consumptio n of abiotic depletion potential and improve the grade of copper concentrate to reduce global warming potentia l.(3)The environme nta l harmony of the double-side blowing smelting techno lo g y of JinFeng copper smelting process is better than that of the bottom blowing smeltin g technology of SKS copper smelting process,and the environme nta l harmony of the continuo us blowing technolo gy of JinFeng copper smelting process is better than tha t of the P-S converter smelting technology of SKS copper smelting process.