Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of paper making process in Iran

Abstract

Forests play an important role on carbon concentration, unchecked harvesting could cause increase in carbon concentration. In this study, the environmental impact caused by paper production at Pars Paper Factory, Iran, was evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The ISO 14040 series were used as references. The functional unit considered was producing one metric tonne of paper for one year. The Centre of Environmental Science, Leiden University, NL, 2000 (CML2 Baseline2000) method was chosen for this LCA study. Ten impact categories were identified as follow: Abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and photochemical oxidation. From the results, using bagasse and electricity contributed the lowest impact value because both of these inputs used renewable sources. However, using heavy fuel oil (in this case mazut) gives the highest impact to global warming. Chlorine from bleaching sector contributes the impact for photochemical oxidation and ozone layer depletion. From the results obtained, the use of bagasse instead of wood in paper and pulp factory, has potential to reduce global warming impact. Hydroelectricity as the source of energy has less impact on the environment, while mazut may result in acidification, global warming and ozone layer depletion.

Key words: Life cycle assessment, Centre of. Environmental Science, Leiden University, NL, 2000 (CML2 Baseline 2000) bagasse, paper making process.