Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

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Research article

Environmental feasibility evaluation of cement co-production using

classified domestic waste as alternative raw material and fuel: A life
cycle perspective
Xuemin Liang, Wenling Dang, Guangling Yang, Yueling Zhang *
MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University,
Beijing 102206, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Domestic waste classification provides a new idea for the low-carbon transformation of the cement industry in
Cement the context of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This study adopted the life cycle assessment to evaluate the
Co-production environmental feasibility of classified domestic waste as alternative raw material and fuel for clinker production.
Waste transportation
An area in Shandong Province was selected to investigate the impact of waste transportation. A roadmap was
RDFCDW
formulated and the calorific value of the refuse-derived fuel using classified domestic waste (RDFCDW) was
Life cycle assessment
calculated as 18,977.76 kJ/kg. Compared with conventional waste disposal, disposal in cement kiln had the
lowest environmental impact, except for human toxicity potential (HTP). The overall environmental burden of
co-production was 7.86% lower than that of conventional production, in which the impact of waste trans­
portation was negligible. Combined with the increasing proportion of clean power applications in 2030 and
2060, the HTP could be decreased by 56.29% and 83.38%, respectively. Accordingly, cement co-production
using classified domestic waste as alternative raw material and fuel is a nationally appropriate and environ­
mentally friendly approach.

1. Introduction waste (Güereca et al., 2015), sewage sludge (Rodriguez et al., 2013),
hazardous waste (Sadala et al., 2019), and used tires (Mikulcic et al.,
Cement manufacturing is an energy- and natural-resource-intensive 2016), etc.) have been widely used in cement production. Among them,
industry, accounting for approximately 7% of global anthropogenic cement co-production using domestic waste has attracted wide attention
greenhouse gas emissions (Izumi et al., 2021). China’s cement produc­ because it not only realizes the recycling, reduction, and harmlessness of
tion was ranked first in the world in 2020, reaching 2.395 billion tons waste but also provides resources and energy for cement production (Xu
(National Bureau of Statistics, 2020a). In the context of carbon peaking et al., 2014; Kosajan et al., 2020).
and neutrality goals, as well as green development, the cement industry The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to analyze the
is required to reduce carbon emissions and the utilization of environmental impacts of products or technologies during their life
non-renewable resources. At present, the measures include using alter­ cycle. Existing studies on the life cycle assessment of cement kiln co-
native raw materials and fuels, improving energy efficiency, and processing domestic waste have mostly focused on waste disposal
adopting carbon capture and storage technologies (Zhang et al., 2021). (Kosajan et al., 2020; Anasstasia et al., 2020). Studies have also been
Studies have demonstrated that the use of alternative raw materials and conducted from the perspective of reducing the usage of fossil fuels and
fuels can effectively reduce resource and energy consumption, thereby pollutant emissions of cement production, assessing the environmental
reducing CO2 emissions and environmental impacts (Georgiopoulou and impact of converting domestic waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) as an
Lyberatos, 2018; Chatziaras et al., 2016). Various alternative raw ma­ alternative fuel for clinker production. Güereca et al. (2015) evaluated
terials (e.g., construction demolition waste (Galbenis and Tsimas, 2006), the environmental impact of clinker production under two scenarios:
fly ash (Liu et al., 2021), calcium carbide slag (Lin et al., 2020), and steel 100% petroleum coke, versus 20% RDF and 80% petroleum coke. Pan­
slag (Gao et al., 2021), etc.) and alternative fuels (e.g., municipal solid ahandeh et al. (2018) studied the environmental impact of clinker

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangyueling@[Link] (Y. Zhang).

[Link]
Received 25 June 2022; Received in revised form 31 October 2022; Accepted 5 November 2022
Available online 12 November 2022
0301-4797/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

production using three fuel scenarios and different combinations of approximately 400,000 people. This study selected the Yicheng District,
natural gas, heavy oil, and RDF. However, most studies did not integrate Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province as the study area (Fig. 1), with a
waste disposal and clinker production and ignored waste transportation population of 430,000, containing five towns and two subdistricts.
because of their complexity. Therefore, the actual waste transportation Shandong Shenfeng Cement Group Co., Ltd., was selected as the disposal
processes should be considered to refine the system boundary (Kosajan site. Taking Gushao Town as an example, the layout of the cement plant
et al., 2020). and routes for waste transportation are shown in Fig. 1. The service
Recently, waste classification policies have been implemented in radius of the transfer station was 6 km (Ministry of Housing and
major cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. The urban-rural Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, 2016), and
domestic waste disposal patterns of household classification, village one or two transfer stations were established in the center of each town
collection, town transfer, and regional disposal have been gradually or street according to its area. Each village built a collection station
built. Waste classification has become an emerging trend, but an LCA of (Wen et al., 2019) located in the center of each village. According to the
cement co-production using classified domestic waste has not yet been town area (129.20 km2) and the number of villages (66), the grid-side
reported. The thermal substitution rate (TSR) of alternative fuel has length of the service area of the collection station was 1327.36 m. The
reached a high level (Bourtsalas et al., 2018), such as 62% in Germany, service radius of the collection point was 70 m (Ministry of Housing and
63% in Austria, and 83% in the Netherlands. While RDF made from Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, 2012). The
waste with a high calorific value in developed countries has been service area of the collection station was gridded and the side length of
applied as an alternative fuel on a large scale. China has few RDF the smaller grid was 94.81 m. The collection point was located at the
preparation studies and applications, due to the low calorific value of center of the service area. Local enlargement showed the relative
domestic waste and complex composition because of high population geographical position of a collection station and its surrounding
density, and the TSR is less than 1% (Xu et al., 2014). Under the premise collection points. Waste transportation distance was defined as the
of waste classification in China, it is necessary to evaluate the partici­ straight-line distance between the two stations.
pation of RDF by using classified domestic waste (RDFCDW) in clinker According to the Beijing Regulations on Domestic Waste Manage­
production as an alternative fuel. ment (Beijing municipal commission of housing and urban-rural
Overall, to provide a reference strategy for decreasing the environ­ development, 2021), domestic waste was classified as food waste
mental impact of the cement industry in the future, we evaluate the (FW), residual waste (RW), recyclable and hazardous waste. Regulations
environmental feasibility of clinker co-production with classified do­ stipulate that wood, lime soil, bricks, and ceramics should be sorted as
mestic waste as alternative material and alternative fuel (RDFCDW), by RW. Meanwhile, paper, plastic, glass, metals, and textile should be
comparing with conventional clinker production and conventional sorted as recyclable. However, 6.2% of paper, 71.6% of plastic, 3.4% of
waste disposal. As a result, corresponding policy recommendations for glass, and 18.6% of metal were not recyclable in the factual operation
the promotion of this approach in China were proposed by focusing on (Ripa et al., 2016). Consequently, these wastes were also sorted as RW in
the main environmental impact categories and process. this paper. The current disposal methods of recyclable and hazardous
waste had achieved resource utilization and harmlessness to the greatest
2. Study area extent, therefore, FW and RW were selected for utilization with cement
kiln. We defined FW and RW as classified domestic waste in this study.
According to the present technology in China, a 5000 t/d cement The domestic waste was source separated by the residents and placed
production line can dispose of 500 t/d waste, which is approximately the into the corresponding cans at the waste collection points. Then, the
amount of waste generated by small and medium-sized cities or counties waste was transported by vehicles to the waste collection stations, waste
(Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s transfer stations and the final disposal point. RW was transported by
Republic of China, 2014). At a waste yield of 1.2 kg/d⋅p (Han et al., trucks with loads of 2, 5, and 14 t, and FW was transported by a special
2017), such a cement production line can dispose of waste generated by truck with a load of 10 t (Wen et al., 2019).

Fig. 1. Study area and layout of the cement plant and routes for waste transportation.

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

3. Methodology and data 3.2. System boundary

LCA (International Organization for Standardization, 2006) and In Fig. 2, the system boundary includes the main steps of clinker
GaBi software with version 7.3.3 (Thinkstep, 2017) were used to eval­ production and waste disposal, starting with the mining and trans­
uate the environmental impacts. Four scenarios were set up and a portation of raw materials and fuel, and ending at the completion of
“cradle-to-gate” scope model was established. Uncertainty analysis was clinker production or waste disposal. Electricity and diesel are the main
obtained through 10,000 iterations of the Monte Carlo simulation built energy inputs and the environmental impacts of their upstream pro­
into GaBi. A univariate (±10%) sensitivity analysis was also performed duction processes are also considered. The main outputs are direct
on the selected parameter. emissions and secondary pollutants from clinker production and waste
disposal processes. When the comparison was among different waste
3.1. Scenario setting disposal methods, the waste transportation routes from the collection
points to the transfer stations were completely identical. Moreover, we
The environmental impact of conventional clinker production and focused on comparing the environmental impacts induced by different
waste disposal was compared with that of clinker co-production. Landfill waste disposal methods. In this context, the waste transportation process
and incineration accounted for a large proportion of conventional waste was not considered. While the comparison was between conventional
disposal methods (Mian et al., 2017). In addition, the disposal of FW clinker production and co-production with waste, waste transportation
based on anaerobic fermentation and transesterification to produce was specially considered. Accordingly, two functional units were
biodiesel and electricity has considerable superiority (Tong et al., 2020). defined as 1 t of clinker, and the amount of FW and RW applied in
Therefore, four scenarios were set up as shown in Fig. 2. Scenario 1 is producing 1 t of clinker.
conventional clinker production, and landfilling for FW and RW. Sce­
nario 2 is conventional clinker production, and incineration for FW and
RW. Scenario 3 is conventional clinker production, anaerobic and 3.3. Life cycle inventory
transesterification reaction of FW, as incineration of RW. Scenario 4 is
the utilization of FW and RW as alternative raw material and fuel for 3.3.1. Conventional clinker production in scenarios 1, 2, and 3
clinker production. The clinker was produced by calcining limestone, sandstone, shale,
and iron powder in a cement kiln with the heat provided by coal. Coal
ash, the combustion product of coal, was also used as a raw material. The
chemical composition and moisture content of the materials (Wang,
2013) are listed in Table S1. Bituminous coal with a calorific value of 24,

Fig. 2. Scenario setting and system boundaries of different scenarios.

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

000 kJ/kg and ash content of 12.5% was selected. The heat consumption Calculation of the calorific value of RDFCDW The domestic waste
of clinker generation was 3000 kJ/kg (Ghalandari et al., 2019). First, the considered in this study originated from urban and rural areas. Ac­
ratio of raw material consumption was assumed, and then the coal cording to the proportion of urban and rural populations (61.51% and
consumption, coal ash incorporation rate, raw meal composition, raw 38.49%, respectively) (National Bureau of Statistics, 2020b) and waste
meal composition after ignition, clinker composition, and clinker quality components (Li et al., 2018), the components of urban-rural integrated
parameters, including the lime saturation factor (KH), silica modulus waste can be obtained (Table 1). After being classified according to the
(SM), and alumina modulus (IM), were calculated based on Equations Regulations, the components of the RW and FW can be obtained
(1)–(8) in Table S2. The clinker quality parameters were as follows: KH (Table 1). The domestic waste and RDFCDW components are presented in
= 0.89 ± 0.02, SM = 2.5 ± 0.1, IM = 1.5 ± 0.1. The amount of wet Table 1. The calorific value of the RDFCDW was calculated using Equa­
material was calculated using Equation (9) in Table S2. The power tions (19)–(21) in Table S2. The RDFCDW substitution rate was chosen to
consumption at each stage was calculated according to the electricity be 30% for the common international TSR (Bourtsalas et al., 2018). The
consumption index for cement production (Wang, 2013). RDFCDW consumption was calculated using Equation (22) in Table S2.
The raw materials and coal were transported by trucks with a load of Determination of the dose of waste Table 2 shows the chemical
25 t, and the transport distances were 3 km and 50 km (Luo and Hao, composition and moisture content of FW (Cai et al., 2015) and the un­
2019), respectively. The transportation processes and the background dersize of RW. Since the proportion of lime soil, bricks, and ceramics in
processes data (e.g., raw material extraction, coal mining, electricity and the undersize of RW reached 99.2%, waste brick powder components
diesel production, etc.) were obtained from the GaBi database, and the was used as the chemical composition of undersize of RW (Xu et al.,
specific processes used were marked in Table S3. The wastewater of 2021). The ash mass of RDFCDW accounted for only 5.07% of the total
cement enterprises came from the circulating cooling water and spray mass of ash; thus, the fuel ash components in the co-production were all
water, the main pollutants contained only a small amount of water scale, replaced by coal ash components.
and almost no wastewater was discharged from the plants. Therefore, Emission of RDFCDW utilization The main atmospheric pollutants
wastewater in the clinker production process was not considered (Wang of RDFCDW combustion in cement kiln were CO2, NOx, SO2, dioxins, etc.
et al., 2021). The emissions of CO2 (Inspection and Quarantine of the Acid gases such as SO2 and HCl were neutralized into salts by the
People’s Republic of China and Standardization Administration of alkaline atmosphere of the cement kiln, and dioxin was completely
China, 2015), SO2 and NOx (Wang, 2013) from the cement kiln were decomposed because of the long retention at high temperature (Kosajan
calculated using Equations (10)–(18) in Table S2. The inventory of et al., 2020). CO2 emissions were calculated by the principle of mass
conventional clinker production in scenarios 1, 2, and 3 is presented in conservation and the results displayed in Table S5.
Table S3. Emission of waste transportation The amount of waste at each
collection point is consistent. Specific transportation distances and
3.3.2. Conventional disposal of waste in scenarios 1, 2, and 3 amounts are listed in Table 3. The inventory of scenario 4 and waste
Landfill gas from the landfill in scenario 1 was used to generate transportation is shown in Table S5.
electricity, inventory data were obtained from the GaBi database. In
scenario 2, the high-temperature flue gas generated by waste incinera­ 3.4. Impact evaluation methods and indicators
tion entered the waste heat boiler to generate steam, and the steam
worked through the turbine generator to generate electricity. All the This study used the CML 2001 method for life cycle assessment. The
heat generated was used for power generation, and the fly ash and CML 2001–Jan 2016 characteristic model was selected to transform the
leachate were disposed of harmlessly. The data were obtained from the input and output data into a single impact value and determined the
Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Shandong Environmental reference value for each environmental impact. Normalization and
Protection Research and Design Institute Co., 2018). In scenario 3, the weighting evaluation were done in GaBi software by selecting the
FW data adopted literature data (Shen, 2013), and the RW data adopted normalization baseline of “CML2001 - Jan. 2016, World, year 2000, excl
incineration data of specific waste components in the GaBi database. biogenic carbon (global equivalents)” and the weighting factor of
The inventory of conventional disposal of waste in scenarios 1, 2, and 3 “thinkstep LCIA Survey 2012, Global, CML 2016, excl biogenic carbon
is shown in Table S4. (global equivalents weighted)”. This can help us to identify which
category with critical impact and which process stage with serious
3.3.3. Scenario 4 and waste transportation environmental problems. Comprehensive considering the impact on the
Description of the co-production In scenario 4, the RW was atmosphere, water, soil, vegetation, resource consumption and human
divided into two parts with a sifter. The oversize mainly contained light health of domestic waste treatment and cement production and referring
combustibles, such as paper, plastic, and wood. They were crushed and to relevant researches (Khandelwal et al., 2019; Li et al., 2015), six
compressed with 5% lime (Li, 2017) to make the RDFCDW, which was environmental impact categories were determined as global warming
used as an alternative fuel in the cement kiln to replace part of the coal. potential (GWP100), abiotic resource depletion (ADP fossil), acidifica­
The undersize mainly consisted of incombustible, such as lime soil, tion potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), human toxicity po­
bricks, ceramics, glass, and metals, which were fed into the raw meal tential (HTP), and photochemical smog and ozone generation potential
mill after being crushed. The FW was pre-homogenized with crushed (POCP).
limestone and then entered into the batching system. It has also been
used as the alternative raw material (Cai et al., 2014). There was no 4. Results and discussion
drying for FW because its moisture was just utilized by limestone
pre-homogenization (Cai et al., 2015). Clinker production in scenario 4 4.1. Environmental impacts of four scenarios
used limestone, sandstone, shale, iron powder, the undersize of RW and
FW (Świechowski et al., 2020) as raw materials, and used coal and Fig. 3 shows the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results for the
RDFCDW as fuels. Coal ash and RDFCDW ash were also used as raw ma­ four scenarios, which were analyzed in terms of clinker production,
terials. The clinker quality parameters, TSR, and proportion of alterna­ waste disposal, environmental benefits of by-products, and net envi­
tive raw materials in the raw meal were considered as constraint ronmental impact potential. For scenario 4, the column of clinker pro­
conditions to adjust the material usage (Cai et al., 2015). The power duction was integrated with waste disposal. To discuss the waste
consumption in each stage was calculated based on the electricity con­ disposal between scenario 4 and scenarios 1, 2, and 3, the environmental
sumption index for cement production (Cai et al., 2015; Wang, 2013; Li, impact of this section in scenario 4 was separated. A dashed line was put
2017). on the graphs of Fig. 3 to insure the comparison at the same level.

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

Table 1
Domestic waste and RDFCDW components (%).
Food waste Paper Plastic Wood Lime soil Bricks, ceramics Glass Metals Textile Others Lime

Urban 69.00 9.50 8.40 0.30 6.30 0.30 2.20 0.90 3.00 0.10
Rural 32.80 3.20 5.40 0.90 39.20 14.50 2.30 0.20 1.30 0.20
Urban-rural integrated 55.07 7.08 7.25 0.53 18.96 5.77 2.24 0.63 2.35 0.14
FW RW Recyclable Hazardous waste
After being classified 55.07 0.44 5.19 0.53 18.96 5.77 0.08 0.12 13.72 0.14
RDFCDW 6.78 80.03 8.19 5.00

Table 2
Chemical composition and moisture of the alternative raw materials (%).
Material Moisture Loss SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 R2 O Cl−

FW 68.2 52.1 27.09 4.74 3.1 6.5 0.88 0.31 2.4 1.05
Undersize of RW 29.4 1.8 56.7 17.4 8 2.1 1.5 0.1 2.3 \

Table 3
Transportation distance and amount of waste.
Tanshan Wulin Gushao Yinping Dige Liuyuan Eshan Total
Subdistrict Subdistrict Town Town Town Town Town

Number of villages 22 36 66 58 46 56 61 345

Administrative area（km2） 20.80 69.00 129.20 100.02 74.35 122.96 120.60 636.93
Number of waste collection points 3136 11,172 20,580 16,856 11,956 19,992 19,992 103,684
Number of waste collection stations 16 57 105 86 61 102 102 529
Number of waste transfer stations 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 10
Transportation amount FW 4.516 16.087 29.635 24.272 17.216 28.788 28.788 149.302
（kg） RW 2.663 9.486 17.474 14.312 10.151 16.975 16.975 88.035
Transportation Collection 1589.60 5662.95 10,431.75 8544.10 6060.35 10,133.70 10,133.70 52,556.15
distance（km） point–Collection station
Collection 36.72 224.61 412.37 485.30 286.58 392.02 429.55 2267.15
station–Transfer station
Transfer station–Cement 12.87 12.19 23.90 3.23 27.74 17.28 51.15 148.38
plant

The environmental benefits of by-products refer to the reduction of by-products showed that the utilization of FW and RW as alternative raw
environmental impacts caused by the biodiesel and electricity generated material and fuel for clinker production had the lowest impact on
from waste disposal in scenarios 1, 2, and 3, as well as the partial GWP100, ADP fossil, AP, EP, and POCP, but the highest on HTP.
replacement of raw materials and fuel by waste in scenario 4. From the Compared to conventional waste disposal methods, disposal of waste in
perspective of clinker production, clinker production in scenario 4 had cement kiln caused a dramatic increase in HTP because it does not
lower environmental impacts than conventional production, with the output electricity, but rather requires additional electricity for equip­
exception of HTP. This indicates that utilizing classified waste to replace ment. The current power structure dominated by coal power in China
raw materials and fuel for clinker production is indeed friendlier for has caused the demerit of clinker production using classified domestic
most environmental categories. From the perspective of waste disposal, waste on HTP.
the impacts of disposal of waste in cement kiln in scenario 4 on EP and
POCP were significantly reduced. Compared to landfill, disposal of 4.2. Environmental impacts of co-production and conventional
waste in cement kiln had an obvious advantage in EP because it production
completely controlled leachate generation. Compared with incineration,
disposal of waste in cement kiln had a significant advantage on POCP, Considering waste transportation, we compared the environmental
which could be a result of the reduction of NOx emissions from the impacts of co-production and conventional production, which were
combustion of waste in the cement kiln after it had been made into introduced in Section 3.1. The results were analyzed in four stages
RDFCDW (Wen et al., 2019). The reduction of disposal of waste in cement (Fig. 4): raw materials and fuel mining and transportation (I), fuel
kiln on GWP100, ADP fossil and AP was not apparent, but the impact on preparation (II), raw meal preparation (III), and clinker calcination (IV).
HTP significantly increased. The study showed that the environmental Positive values represent an increase in the environmental impact of co-
impact of electricity consumption was mainly reflected in HTP (Çankaya production compared to conventional production, whereas negative
and Pekey, 2020). Disposal of waste in cement kiln increased electricity values represent a decrease.
consumption due to screening, crushing, and compression processes, In the mining and transportation stages of raw materials and fuel, all
which may be responsible for the elevated HTP. From the perspective of environmental impact categories of co-production were significantly
environmental benefits from by-products, although disposal of waste in lower than those of conventional production. Although co-production
cement kiln produced no biodiesel or electricity, the benefits in the ADP avoided the impact of mining and transportation of raw materials and
fossil were promising. However, the benefits due to the partial coal, it increased the impact of waste transportation. This result in­
replacement of raw materials and fuel by the waste in scenario 4 were dicates that the impact of waste transportation was smaller than that of
not superior in terms of GWP 100, AP, EP, HTP, and POCP compared to mining and transportation of raw materials and fuel being replaced. For
the electricity generation in the other three scenarios. This result was the fuel preparation stage, all impact categories of co-production were
consistent with Kosajan et al. (2020). A comprehensive assessment of significantly higher than those of conventional production. Fuel prepa­
the environmental benefits of clinker production, waste disposal, and ration included a coal mill and RDFCDW preparation, both of which were

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

Fig. 3. LCIA results of four scenarios: (a)–(f) are the characterization results in different environmental impact categories. Dashed lines denoted the comparison of
waste disposal at the same level.

driven by electricity. Although the reduction in coal power consumption production, the overall environmental burden was significantly smaller
caused a corresponding reduction in electricity, more RDFCDW prepa­ than that of conventional production (Fig. 4g).
ration was required. This result shows that the power consumption of Fig. 5 shows the environmental impact contribution proportion of
the RDFCDW preparation was greater than that of the coal mill. In the raw each stage for co-production. The environmental impact of the clinker
meal preparation stage, all impact categories of co-production were calcination stage was mainly caused by carbonate decomposition, coal
slightly higher than those of conventional production. The pre- and RDFCDW combustion. It had the largest proportion of the GWP100,
homogenization of FW with limestone and crushing undersize of RW AP, EP, and POCP environmental impact categories. The findings above
increased the power consumption, but the crushing and grinding power agree with Güereca et al. (2015), who reported that the kiln was the
consumption of raw materials decreased owing to waste substitution. principal contributor to the clinker production process. As HTP was
The results show that the increased power consumption of the waste was mainly caused by electricity, this result indicates that the influence of
not significantly different from that saved by the reduction of raw ma­ electricity consumption in the clinker calcination stage was not signifi­
terials. In the clinker calcination stage, all impact categories of co- cant compared to other stages. The impacts of mining and transportation
production, except ADP fossil, were lower than those of conventional of conventional raw materials and fuel were mainly reflected in ADP
production. The RDFCDW partially replaced coal and reduced the fossil, which conformed to the actual situation. Compared to conven­
pollutant emissions from coal combustion. After the partial replacement tional production, waste transportation and RDFCDW preparation are
of the raw materials by waste, the carbonate content was reduced, additional stages in co-production. In terms of waste transportation, the
thereby reducing its decomposition emissions. However, it was worth percentages of GWP100, ADP fossil, AP, EP, and HTP were less than
noting that co-production only reduced the GWP100 by 11.121 kg CO2 0.3%, indicating that the environmental impact of this stage was small.
equivalent compared to conventional production. These results agreed In addition, in terms of POCP, the proportion of waste transportation
with Galvez-Martos and Schoenberger (2014), who also demonstrated had a negative value. Major emissions from vehicle include CO2, CO,
that greenhouse gas emission was not significantly reduced when waste NO, NO2, etc., while NO consumes O3 and NO2 is helpful to generate O3
was co-incinerated in cement kilns. ADP fossil was the same in the (Dahlmann et al., 2011), which presented as the characteristic factors
clinker calcination stage between co-production and conventional pro­ were − 0.427 for NO, 0.028 for NO2 in the GaBi database. Taking the
duction, which could be due to their identical electricity consumptions. “GLO: Truck, Euro 3, 28–32 t gross weight/22 t payload capacity” model
As a secondary energy source, the environmental impact of upstream in GaBi as an example, the primary emission of NO (3.8E-5 kg) produced
production of electricity is consistent with its consumption. Overall, by the truck traveling 100 km is greater than that of NO2 (2.9E-6 kg).
although the HTP of co-production was higher than that of conventional Accordingly, the primary emission of NO from transportation was

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

Fig. 4. Comparison of the LCIA results of co-production and conventional production: (a)–(f) are the characterization results of each stage in different environmental
impact categories and (g) is the normalization and weighting results for each environmental impact category.

greater than that of NO2, resulting in a net negative generation of O3. for the world’s cement industry to recycle CO2. After considering the
RDFCDW preparation occupied a very small proportion of GWP100, technology maturity, energy consumption, and cost of carbon capture
indicating an insignificant impact on the GWP. The significant contri­ and storage technologies, cement enterprises can increase the intro­
bution of the RDFCDW preparation to the HTP was also attributed to its duction rate of this technology to accelerate the de-carbonization of
electricity consumption. cement production. Moreover, according to China’s 2030 Energy and
The normalization and weighting evaluation results of the co- Power Development Plan and 2060 Outlook, China will accelerate the
production are shown in Fig. 6. The overall environmental burden of transformation and upgrading of its power system, with clean energy
the two additional stages of co-production (waste transportation and accounting for 52.5% of its electricity generation in 2030 and more than
RDFCDW preparation) were very small (Fig. 6a). However, as shown in 70% in 2060. As shown in the light blue and green columns in Fig. 6b,
Fig. 5, the contribution of waste transportation to various environmental the adjustment of the power structure reduced all environmental impact
impacts was minimal, whereas the RDFCDW preparation had a significant categories caused by co-production, among which HTP decreased the
effect on HTP, which could be related to the prominent value of HTP most. As the proportion of clean energy increases, the environmental
(Fig. 6b). The overall environmental burden of clinker calcination was impact will decrease. HTP is predicted to decrease by 56.29% by 2030
the largest (Fig. 6a), and the main environmental impact of this process and 83.38% by 2060. The environmental impact of ADP fossil was sig­
was GWP100, which was also well correlated with the highest GWP100 nificant (Fig. 6b), which means that, despite raw materials and fuel
value (Fig. 6b). Taken together, climate change and human health are being partially replaced by waste, a large number of mineral resources
major environmental issues in co-production, which is consistent with were still consumed. At present, such circumstances are difficult for
the findings of Çankaya and Pekey (2019). Carbon capture in coal cement enterprises to overcome because of their technical features.
chemical and coal-fired power plants worldwide has been industrialized
for years, while the carbon capture in the cement industry was still at the
4.3. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis
trial stage, for example, Conch Group’s cement kiln gas carbon dioxide
capture and purification project, completed in 2018, created a precedent
To assess the quality of the LCA data in the inventory of co-

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

Fig. 5. Environmental impact contribution proportion of each stage for co-production: (a)–(f) are the characterization results in different environmental
impact categories.

Fig. 6. Normalization and weighting evaluation results of co-production: (a) is the overall environmental burden of each stage and (b) is the normalization and
weighting evaluation results of each impact category under the clean-electricity proportion predicted in 2030 and 2060.

production and the reliability of the results, the uncertainty of raw data The parameters of raw materials (limestone, sandstone, shale, and
(from the actual production and literature) and data obtained by iron powder), coal and electricity, which accounted for a relatively large
calculation were evaluated (Huang et al., 2012). As shown in Table 4, portion of the evaluation, were selected for sensitivity analysis (±10%)
the uncertainties of the LCA results were all less than 10%, indicating to identify the data that had the critical impact on results. The results in
that the data were of high quality and the results were reliable. Table 5 showed that electricity was the most important factor that all

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X. Liang et al. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023) 116726

Table 4 Visualization. Guangling Yang: Investigation, Conceptualization,

Uncertainty of LCA results in co-production. Formal analysis. Yueling Zhang: Supervision, Validation, Writing -
Impact Unit Mean 5% 95% Standard Reviewing and Editing, Funding acquisition.
category confidence confidence error of
interval interval mean
Declaration of competing interest
GWP100 kg CO2- 8.62 8.62 E+02 8.62 E+02 0.45%
Equiv. E+02
ADP MJ 3.36 3.36 E+03 3.36 E+03 4.98% The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
fossil E+03 interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
AP kg SO2- 1.45 1.42 E+00 1.48 E+00 1.64% the work reported in this paper.
Equiv. E+00
EP kg 1.99E- 1.70E-01 2.28E-01 1.46%
Data availability
Phosphate- 01
Equiv.
HTP kg DCB- 2.70 2.69 E+01 2.71 E+01 4.53% I have provided the supplementary materials documents.
Equiv. E+01
POCP kg Ethene- 8.93E- 4.74E-02 1.31E-01 2.14%
Acknowledgments
Equiv. 02

This work was supported by the projects of the Chinese Academy of

Engineering (Grants: CKCEST-2021-1-15 and 2020NXZD3) and the
Table 5
Prime Minister’s Fund—the Key Project of Heavy Air Pollution Cause
Sensitivity analysis results of co-production.
and Control (No. DQGG0209-13).
GWP100 ADP fossil AP EP HTP POCP

Raw materials 0.21% 0.66% 0.41% 0.58% 0.48% 0.50% Appendix A. Supplementary data
Coal 0.32% 7.31% 0.74% 0.74% 0.26% 1.08%
Electricity 0.75% 1.97% 3.03% 2.59% 8.83% 3.90%
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at [Link]
org/10.1016/[Link].2022.116726.
environmental impact categories were sensitive to its variation. The
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