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The effects of energy consumption of alumina production in the environmental impacts using life cycle assessment
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Purpose Aluminium industry emits around 1–2% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Up to one-third of those are linked to the thermal energy consumed during its initial process: the alumina refining (Bayer process). Previous studies consider the Bayer process a single stage despite its being made of several reaction stages. This work presents a disaggregated energy analysis of the Bayer process that facilitates to find relationships between the main variables in regular alumina production and the environmental impacts. Methods Two different thermodynamic simulations of the Bayer process were carried out using Aspen V11 software. The results of these simulations were validated with referenced data, and afterwards, they were used to perform a life cycle assessment. ISO 14040 and 14,044 standards were followed during the analysis. LCA was implemented on SimaPro 9.0, and ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method was used to calculate environmental impacts. The influence of bauxite mineral form, type of fuel (energy input), and the distance from the mine to the plant was analysed throughout the study. Results and discussion As expected, the type of fuel was revealed as the most crucial factor in the environmental impact of alumina production, with potential savings of up to 75.5% of CO2-equivalent emissions. Nonetheless, the tendency is diverse for other indicators, such as marine eutrophication or terrestrial acidification. On the other hand, while bauxite transportation always has the same impact on the different environmental indicators, bauxite mineral form affects differently depending on the fuel, causing variations in the CO2-eq emissions from 7.7 to 51.3%. Conclusions Results indicated that the electrification of heat-demanding processes and the use of renewable power is the most effective approach for reducing environmental impacts. This strategy, however, must be considered in combination with others, as interdependent effects exist on the type of mineral used. These results provide strong evidence of the potential for environmentally friendly strategies in the metal industry, including new processes, alternative fuels, or mineral switching to promote more sustainable aluminium production.
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“Global supply is dominated by a few large-scale surface mines in Australia, Guinea, Brazil, and China, underscoring the geographic concentration of primary aluminum resources [23,27].”
From Mapping the Supply Chain of Lithium-Ion Battery Metals from Mine to Primary Processing by Country and Corporation (2026) · cites this paper as [27]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sáez-Guinoa, J., García-Franco, E., Llera-Sastresa, E., & Romeo, L. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Zaragoza (ES)
- Venue
- The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
- Published
- 2023-12-12
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 380-393
- ISSN
- 0948-3349 (ISSN-L)
- 1614-7502
- OpenAlex
- W4389624002
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 4.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Zaguan (Universidad de Zaragoza) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Universidad de Zaragoza
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Bauxite Residue and Utilization
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Metals and Alloys › Iron and Steelmaking Processes
- Keywords
- alumina production, Bayer process, aluminum industry, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, fuel type, CO2 equivalent emissions, marine eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, renewable energy
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