Electrolytic Nickel Production Life Cycle Assessment Study

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool which analyzes in quantitatively and qualitatively to valuates the environmental impact of a product, process or activity throughout its entire life cycle. It can be used to distinguish and quantify this impact through utilization of substances and environmental wastes. The purpose of LCA is to valuate environmental impact of these factors and search for a chance to improve. At the present time, all kinds of international social aspects have paid attention to the development and application of life cycle assessment. It is expected that LCA will be a technique of environmental management with the most vitality and development future in this century.According to the technical framework and principle of life cycle assessment, present paper had applies LCA to the field of the products of electrolysed-nickel from the processes including mining, concentrating, metallurgy, transportation and so on firstly. A set of life cycle assessment model which is suitable to this kind of products was presented in this paper. It could be used to analyze and valuate the environmental influences for the electrolysed-nickel production, and it could be used also to classify the kinds of pollutions discharged from the electrolysed-nickel production, which according to the pollution extends from the wastes. The research object in present papre is the electrolysed-nickel production processes form Jinchuan Group Limited, and the dates were came from the Jinchuan Group Limited in 2005. LCA analysis was to the resource depletion and environment influence in electrolysed-nickel production form Jinchuan Group Limited.Research results shown, that environmental impact is 1837.92mPE for 1 ton electrolysed-nickel, and the resources consumption coefficient is 116.545 mPR₂₀₀₀. Results had reflected the environment performance of electrolysed-nickel production processes objectively. Looked from the environment, that the environmental impact of electrolysed-nickel production life cycle came from the acidification mainly, accounts for the total quantity 99.49%, other environmental effects have nutrients-enriched, the solid waste, , smoke and dust, occupies the proportion quite is all small. For the resources conservation and saves, the life cycle in resources consumption for electrolysed-nickel production mainly came from the coal consumption in power production for smelting process of electrolysed-nickel production, its reaches 72.58% to the electrolysed-nickel life cycle resources consumption contribution, the next was the oil consumption, accounts for 27.36%. Based on the each stage in life cycle of electrolysed-nickel production, the metallurgy process is the most important environmental effect stage, accounts for the total quantity 99.56%.All of the research results can be used not only to direct enterprise's production and environmental management, but also to provide the proof for department of environmental management to decide relative environmental protect rules.