Abstract

No information is currently available on potential environmental impact of boric acid solvent extraction from salt-lake brine although boron production is important for industry, agriculture, and human well-beings. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was firstly used by this study to evaluate the environmental impact of boron production using extraction method with the functional unit of 1-ton boric acid. CO₂ was the pollutant with the highest emission amount among the target pollutants, while both extraction and reverse extraction stages contributed to 61.6% of total emission amount for the boron extraction technique. Global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP) of producing 1-ton boric acid by extraction technique reached 5.52 × 10³ kg CO₂ eq and 28.0 kg SO₂ eq, respectively. Extraction/dry stage contributed to the highest/lowest percentage of environmental impact indices by following the order of extraction > reverse extraction > acidification > dry. Life cycle cost for 1 ton of boric acid was estimated as $1054.83 with 67.5% of internal cost. Approximately 1.59 ton of indirect water and 6010 kWh of electricity were consumed to produce 1 ton of boric acid. The emission amounts of pollutants for nanofiltration boron-production technique were 1.4–1.7 times those for extraction technique. GWP and AP of boron extraction production were comparable with those of the other production processes. The findings of this study will provide the theoretical basis and quantitative data for the sustainable development and cleaner production of boron industry.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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硼生产的生命周期评估：从盐湖盐水中提取硼酸是否对环境有利？

摘要

尽管硼的生产对于工业，农业和人类的健康很重要，但目前尚无关于从盐湖盐水中提取硼酸溶剂的潜在环境影响的信息。本研究首先使用生命周期评估（LCA）来评估以1吨硼酸为功能单元的萃取方法对硼生产的环境影响。在目标污染物中，CO ₂是排放量最高的污染物，而萃取和反萃取阶段对硼萃取技术的贡献均占总排放量的61.6％。通过萃取技术生产1吨硼酸的全球变暖潜势（GWP）和酸化潜势（AP）达到5.52×10 ³  kg CO ₂eq和28.0 kg SO ₂ eq。提取/干燥阶段按照提取顺序>逆向提取>酸化>干燥的顺序，对环境影响指数的最高/最低百分比做出了贡献。1吨硼酸的生命周期成本估计为$ 1054.83，内部成本为67.5％。生产1吨硼酸大约消耗了1.59吨的间接水和6010 kWh的电力。纳滤硼生产技术中污染物的排放量是萃取技术中污染物排放量的1.4-1.7倍。硼提取生产的GWP和AP与其他生产工艺相当。本研究结果将为硼工业的可持续发展和清洁生产提供理论依据和定量数据。

图形摘要