Life cycle assessment and life cycle costing of sanitary ware manufacturing: A case study in China

Abstract

Sanitary ware industry consumes vast amounts of energy and materials; however, little is known about the environmental impacts and economic costs associated with the production of sanitary ware. Selecting a factory of a leading Chinese sanitary ware company, Huida Co. Ltd., this paper employs a combined "cradle-to-gate" life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methodology to evaluate the environmental impacts and economic costs related to the production of one tonne of sanitary ware. The LCA results indicate firing and drying are the processes with the greatest environmental impacts, attributing to the combustion of coke oven gas. The LCC results show that casting, body preparation and firing are the greatest contributors to the total equipment, material and energy costs, respectively. The results of sensitivity analysis confirm that increasing fuel efficiency, natural gas usage and recycling rates can reduce the overall environmental impacts, but the total costs would be increased by 13.8% if coke oven gas is fully replaced by natural gas, even considering carbon tax. Based on the findings, recommendations such as using green materials and improving energy efficiency, are provided to promote both the environmental and economic sustainability of sanitary ware production.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Mobile Power Banks with Lithium-Ion Battery and Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery

“…In this study, a LCA approach, a common tool that quantifies the environmental performance of certain products [14,15], is employed. According to the related International Standard Organization (ISO) 14040 standard [16], the LCA methodology is applied in all its four basic stages: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation.…”

Analysis of Multi-Objective Optimization of Machining Allowance Distribution and Parameters for Energy Saving Strategy

“…d 1 and d 2 are the radial distance of the workpiece for rough turning and finish turning, and they are taken as the machining allowances of the two turning phases. Therefore, the total material volume to be tooled in a turning process V t can be expressed as Equation (1). R is the radius of the original cylindrical workpiece.…”

“…During different phases of the turning process, machining parameter groups can be different. Therefore, the total material volume to be tooled in a turning process can be expressed as Equation (1).…”

“…Despite the increasing use of low carbon energy sources, fossil fuels remain as the dominant energy sources worldwide [1,2], with their share accounting for 81% in 2008 to 74% in 2035 [3,4]. The rising demand for fossil fuels led to CO 2 emissions rising from 29.3 gigatons (Gt) in 2008 to 35.4 Gt in 2035 [5,6].…”

Development of a Novel Shaft Dryer for Coal-Based Green Needle Coke Drying Process

“…Green manufacturing and cleaner production [3] have become one prominent feature of sustainable development. Especially in the context of carbon trade and carbon tax [4,5], energy conservation and emissions reduction are definitely the key issues of various industrial processes, such as ceramic production [6], ironmaking [7], sintering [8], and power generation [9]; and the needle coke drying process should be no exception. Coal-based needle coke is a perfect material for the manufacturing of the ultra-high-power electrode used in the compact steelmaking process.…”