Life Cycle Assessment of Pollutants and Emission Reduction Strategies Based on Energy Structure of Nonferrous Metal Industry in China

Abstract

China is the largest producer and consumer of nonferrous metals in the world. As one of the specific industries with high energy consumption, high carbon emission, and high resource consumption, the nonferrous industry has posed a severe challenge to " peak carbon emission and carbon neutrality " and ecological civilization construction in China's 14th Five-Year Plan. Therefore, this article selects the five most typical nonferrous metal industries and analyzes the energy structure such as resource consumption and energy consumption through LCI (life cycle inventory). Then use three LCA (life cycle assessment) calculation models to characterize, weight, and standardize the emissions of CO₂, SO₂, and other pollutants involved in the entire production process of the nonferrous metal industry. Guided by the goal of carbon emission reduction, this article puts forward energy-saving and carbon emission reduction methods. It provides decision support for achieving the strategic plan of " peak carbon emission and carbon neutrality " and ecological civilization construction.

Keywords: Nonferrous Metal Industry, Pollutant Emission, life cycle assessment, carbon neutrality, Energy Structure