Synthesizing zeolites, which are important materials used in the petroleum and chemical industries, from natural aluminosilicate minerals has been qualitatively recognized as a greener approach compared to that from traditional Si- and Al-containing chemicals; however, studies on the quantitative environmental impacts are still lacking. Herein, life cycle assessment (LCA) and green metrics (atom economy and environmental factor) were employed to comparatively assess the life cycle environmental impacts of zeolites synthesized from chemicals and natural minerals at the industrial scale. The values of seven LCA impact categories and sensitivity analysis between them were thoroughly compared. The results showed that, for each category, the synthesis from natural minerals has lower environmental impacts to varying degrees than that from chemicals. Further efficiency analysis of zeolite manufacturing technologies by green metrics indicated that the synthesis from natural minerals outperforms that from chemicals in terms of the resource utilization rate. The quantitative results indicate that significant benefits stem from the replacement of raw materials from chemicals to natural minerals. This work may provide a basis for the future selection and upgrade of zeolite production processes.

中文翻译：

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由化学品和天然矿物合成的沸石的比较环境评估

与传统的含硅和含铝化学品相比，用天然硅铝酸盐矿物合成沸石是石油和化学工业中使用的重要材料，已被定性地认为是一种更环保的方法；然而，仍然缺乏对环境影响的定量研究。本文采用生命周期评估（LCA）和绿色指标（原子经济和环境因素）来比较评估工业规模由化学品和天然矿物合成的沸石的生命周期环境影响。对七个 LCA 影响类别的值及其之间的敏感性分析进行了彻底的比较。结果表明，对于每个类别，天然矿物的合成对环境的影响都不同程度地低于化学品的合成。通过绿色指标对沸石制造技术的进一步效率分析表明，在资源利用率方面，天然矿物的合成优于化学品的合成。定量结果表明，将原材料从化学品替换为天然矿物质可带来显着的效益。该工作可为未来沸石生产工艺的选型和升级提供依据。