Sensitivity Analysis of Life Cycle impacts distribution methods choice applied to silica fume production

Abstract

The construction sector is known as an important consumer of natural resources. The use of by-products from different production chains in the sector is encouraged, promoting a reduction in the extraction of natural resources, reducing the need for residues disposal and enhancing circularity. Silica fume is a by-product from the smelting process in the silicon and ferrosilicon industry, commonly used as concrete supplementary cementitious material, which provides chemical and physical effects on concrete microstructure. When LCA evaluation is conducted, different impact distribution models may be applied to assess the potential impact of the by-productss. Although their benefits are recognized, some studies still report them as burden free, having no allocated impacts . Thereby, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the differences in silica fume life cycle impacts by analyzing three scenarios from cradle to gate, considering the modeling procedures described by ISO 14040, the Cut-off model from Ecoinvent version 3.3 and the impact assessment method CML v.4.4, according to the CEN EN 15804 recommended categories. Results enhance the understanding regarding model selection and demonstrate that the selection of the proper distribution model is key, considering that this may lead to important differences in the results.