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Wood is a renewable material that can store biogenic carbon, and waste wood can be recycled to recover bioenergy. The amount of energy recovery from the waste wood can vary depending on the type of wood and its chemical and structural properties. This paper will analyse the life cycle environmental impact of energy recovery from waste wood, starting from the wood production stage. These are cradle-to-cradle systems, excluding the use phase and the waste collection phase. The types of waste wood considered in the current study are softwood, hardwood, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), plywood, and particleboard. The results showed that all waste wood has great potential to produce energy while reducing climate change impact. Hardwood and softwood products showed the most beneficial aspects in terms of energy recovery from waste wood and thus could help to reduce harmful environmental emissions. However, MDF and particleboard show the least potential for energy recovery as they contribute to the greatest emissions among all types of wood products. The outcomes of this study could be used as guiding principles for Australia to consider waste-to-energy recovery facility establishment to generate additional energy while reducing waste wood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of a power plant in different nations depends on the required resources availability, abundance, and reliability. It is evident that renewable energy generation resources provide a more sustainable solution than the fossil fuels. However, as a complete system, renewable energy generation systems also have some overall environmental impacts on humankind and ecosystems. The main objective of this paper is to addresses the environmental effects caused by different types of renewable energy generation systems through process-based life-cycle impact analysis. A comparative study is carried out among different renewable energy generation technologies which include wind, photovoltaic, biomass, and hydro power. Life-cycle impact analysis has been carried out by Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Eco-indicator 99, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Ecopoints 97 approaches. The superiority of this work is creating a comprehensive life-cycle inventory following a reliable global database, assessing the impacts for about 10 midpoint impact categories and three endpoint indicators, and taking account of the fossil-fuel-based energy consumption rate of each plant. The key findings reveal that photovoltaic power plants have the highest environmental impacts in the types of ozone layer depletion, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marine aquatic ecotoxicity, while biomass plants impact on the categories of abiotic depletion, global warming, photochemical oxidation, acidification, and eutrophication. Moreover, the wind power plants have the more significant environmental effect on human toxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity types. Overall, hydropower plants are found to be much more environment-friendly than other renewable electricity generation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the life cycle assessment (LCA) carried out on the manganese beneficiation and refining process. This cradle-to-gate analysis is carried out using SimaPro software version 8.5. The considered case is the manganese beneficiation and refining process, and the final product is 1 kg of refined manganese. The global average dataset is collected from the EcoInvent and AusLCI database, which are originated from literature source. The analysis methodologies considered in this study are the International Life Cycle Reference Data System (ILCD) method and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method. A comparative analysis is also presented which compared among ILCD, Australian Indicator, and Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) methods to identify the best practice method for global analysis of mining processes. A detailed sensitivity analysis has been carried out considering different scenarios, to suggest possible solutions to reduce the environmental impacts associated with manganese beneficiation and refining processes. The analysis results reveal that particulate matter, climate change, categories of eutrophication, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer effects), and acidification are some of the noteworthy impact categories. The analysis results also showed that coal consumption is significantly higher than other types of renewables and non-renewable energy consumption in manganese beneficiation and refining processes. The analysis results further reveal that using the chromium steel in manganese beneficiation process and ferromanganese consumption in the refining process has a significant effect over other materials involved in manganese beneficiation and refining operations. The obvious reason behind this result is ferromanganese utilization as an energy-intensive process, which in turn increases the environmental emissions. The analysis results also showed that, between the beneficiation and refining process, manganese refining has a much greater impact on the environment rather than the beneficiation process due to the fossil fuel and electricity consumption in refining operations. Unlabelled Image • Comparative life cycle assessment of manganese beneficiation and refining is carried out. • Major impact categories are assessed using ILCD and CED method. • Life cycle assessment, uncertainty analysis, and sensitivity analysis are conducted. • Refining has larger impact than beneficiation due to electricity consumption. • Human toxicity, ionizing radiation, eutrophication are crucial impact categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analysed and summarised the significant research outputs published on the environmental impact assessment of mining and mineral processing industries through life cycle assessment. The paper presents valuable insights in identifying the gaps, where should the focus be in the mining and mineral processing industries for a sustainable future. Mining and mineral processing industries have been the key focus of research in many countries due to its increasing sustainability concerns that affect global warming and climate change. Use of heavy equipment that consumes electrical energy, mechanical energy, and an enormous amount of process heat is a key contributor to the overall impacts in the industry. Due to the use of heavy equipment and associated energy consumption, these industrial sectors contribute notably to global warming, human health, ecosystems, and resources. Among the various environmental impact assessment tools which are widely used to identify sustainability indicators, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-justified approach among the practitioners and researchers. Though state of the art technological tools and resources are being used now a days, there is still a research gap in identifying the key mining processes which need to be the focus of attention. Renewable energy integration in the mineral processing sector and process heating from green energy sources is becoming the emergent field of research. The review results reveal, the assessment indicators in human health and ecosystems are key factors that are mostly missing in the previous studies which are crucial for people or community living nearby mining area. This review paper identifies the research gaps to the existing literature that can form the base for future research direction in the field of LCA and sustainable energy integration in mining and mineral processing industries. • A review based on life cycle assessment studies in mining and mineral processing. • 16 metal mining industries are reviewed. • Summarised key factors of environmental effects using LCA. • Future research directions are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold and silver are extracted through the gold-silver couple production process or the gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production process. This paper aims to analyse and compare the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the gold and silver refining processes. Two production routes are considered in this study: gold and silver refining through the gold-silver couple production process and gold and silver refining which are produced from the gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production process. SimaPro software version 8.5 is used for the life-cycle assessment using the International Life Cycle Reference Data (ILCD) method and the cumulative energy demand method (CED). The geographic region considered in the original dataset is based on Papua New Guinea and Sweden. The major impact categories from the ILCD methods are climate change, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer effects), ecotoxicity, ionising radiation (human health and ecotoxicity), eutrophication (freshwater, marine, and terrestrial), land use, water use, and mineral resources depletion. The impact categories where the results are analysed and presented here from the CED method are renewables, fossil fuels (oil, coal, and gas), biomass, nuclear, and embodied energy. The analysis results indicate that between gold-silver couple production and gold silver combined metal production process, refining through the gold-silver couple production process have greater environmental impacts. Furthermore, gold refining effects are larger as compared to the silver refining process. Among the significant impact categories, the most crucial is human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer). Results from the cumulative energy demand method shows that fossil-fuel consumption is larger than all other sources of energy demand in the precious-metal refining process. • Life cycle assessment of gold-silver refining processes is carried out. • Analysis is done with ILCD, IMPACT 2002+, and CED method. • Gold silver refining from the couple production is detrimental for environment. • Harmful emissions are mercury, chromium, and carbon-14. • Alternative low alloyed or unalloyed steel would be beneficial for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, a life-cycle assessment from the aluminum production processes is carried out by considering four major steps of aluminum production - bauxite mining from the ore, alumina production, smelting, and the ingot casting process of aluminum. The study considered the cradle to gate system to analyze and quantify the environmental impacts during aluminum production process from raw materials to the final finished product. The production input and output datasets are taken from the databases and eGrid reports and the analysis is carried out utilizing three different methods, namely the International Life-cycle Reference Data System (ILCD) method, the Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) method, and the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method. The results show electricity consumption in aluminum smelting causes noteworthy environmental burdens among all the processes or materials involved. Residual fuel oil, diesel, and natural gas consumption during the alumina production is also a major contributor to environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to justify the variation of environmental impacts in proportion with the modes of electricity generation from different sources to be used for aluminum smelting. Further sensitivity analysis is carried out among the quantity of the fossil fuel used based on their sources for process heat generation during alumina production. According to the sensitivity analysis results, renewable energy integration or reducing the consumption of fossil fuels would be the promising alternative to reduce the environmental burdens associated with aluminum production. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Conducted full LCA study on bauxite to aluminum production • Aluminum smelting and refining causes the significant environmental effects. • Significant environmental impact on climate change, acidification, and ecotoxicity • Process heat consumption in Bayer process should be replaced by renewable energy. • Alteration of electricity generation source for smelting can enhance sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper are valuable non-ferrous metals that paved the way for modern civilisation. However, the environmental impacts from their beneficiation stage was always overlooked. This paper analysed the life cycle environmental impacts from the beneficiation process of gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production. The analysis is conducted by utilising the SimaPro software version 8.5. The life cycle assessment methodologies followed are the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, the IMPACT 2002+ method, and the Cumulative Energy Demand Method (CED). The most significant impact categories are ecotoxicity, climate change, human toxicity, eutrophication, acidification, and ozone depletion among nearly 15 impact categories which are assessed in this study. The analysis results from the ILCD method indicate that there is a noteworthy impact on ionising radiation caused by the beneficiation process. Out of the five metals considered, gold and silver beneficiation impacts the most while lead‑zinc beneficiation impacts the least. Gold beneficiation has most impacts on the category of climate change and ecosystems. Other major impact categories are ionising radiation, terrestrial eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation, human toxicity, and acidification. The IMPACT 2002+ method shows the overall impact is on ecosystem quality and human health from this combined beneficiation process, dominantly from gold‑silver beneficiation. The life-cycle inventory results show that the blasting process and the amount of electricity consumption in the beneficiation process contribute to cause significant amount of environmental impacts. The comparative impact results are presented and discussed in detail in this paper. Sensitivity analyses are presented based on various electricity grid-mix scenarios and energy-mix scenarios, and the results suggest that electricity grid mix has a dominant effect over the fossil-fuel mix. This paper also highlights the potential steps which could cut down the environmental effects by integrating renewable-energy technologies. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Life cycle assessment of gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper beneficiation is carried out. • LCA is conducted through SimaPro software using ILCD, IMPACT 2002+, and CED method. • Gold-silver beneficiation are higher impact as compared to lead-zinc. • Notable impact categories are ionising radiation, acidification, eutrophication, and human health. • Electricity and fossil fuel consumption are the dominant factors causing the impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study assessed the environmental impacts of uranium extraction through three different mining process namely open-pit, underground, and in-situ leaching. The study is carried out through life-cycle impact assessment by using the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, for 14 significant impact categories; the major categories with significant results are ionizing radiation, climate change, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and eutrophication. Impact assessment through the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method is also carried out to assess the usage of renewable and non-renewable sources of energy in uranium extraction processes. All analysis is carried out for 1 kg uranium production through three different processes by using heavy fuel and diesel as the energy source. The comparative impact-assessment results for the open-pit mining method, underground mining, and in-situ leaching mining methods are presented and discussed in detail. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out to rationalize the linear relationship between the materials or fuels responsible for environmental impacts and sustainability. Three different scenarios are assessed including the base case scenario of the uranium extraction process. Sensitivity analysis results reveal the effect of fossil fuel based energy generation sources is the primary factor for causing environmental impacts during the uranium extraction routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents life-cycle environmental impacts and health hazards of the ilmenite and rutile processing routes which are very little explored despite a significant quantity of production worldwide. The study is carried out through a life-cycle environmental-impact assessment of the ilmenite and rutile mining production processes in Australia, using the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method under 14 significant impact categories and the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method for 10 significant impact categories. The dataset is collected from EcoInvent and the Australian Life cycle assessment database considering Australia as the geographic region. The major impact categories are climate change, human health (cancer), human health (non-cancer), ecotoxicity, and eutrophication. The analysis results show that the highest impact is caused in climate change, at 0.295 kg CO 2 eq, which is due to the large amount of electricity consumption in the ilmenite extraction process. Then, human toxicity-non cancer effects (4.42E-09 CTUh) and particulate matter (0.000155 kg PM 2.5 eq) are also noteworthy. Water resources depletion is affected due to the chemical emissions from ilmenite ore, which are found to be 0.00163 m 3 water eq. Rutile production impacts greatly on climate change at 1.535 kg CO 2 eq owing to large-scale electricity consumption. Electricity consumption for rutile also affects human toxicity-non cancer (2.3E-8 CTUh), particulate matter (0.00081 kg PM2.5 eq), and terrestrial eutrophication (0.024 molc N eq). Water-resources depletion from rutile is due to the ore, which are found to be 0.0085 m 3 water eq. The comparative assessment between ilmenite and rutile implies that rutile has more impact on the environment than ilmenite due to the electricity consumption and fossil fuel consumption. This result is validated through further analysis using the Cumulative Energy Demand method. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out to elucidate that the electricity grid mix from country-to-country contributes to sustainability by reducing the environmental impacts significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar thermal technology to supply process heat in different industrial sectors has become very promising in recent years. Industries can reduce their consumption of fossil fuels by replacing them with solar process heat with non-conventional system integration and using clean energy. In this paper, a systematic review of 10 countries is presented which demonstrated extensive use of solar industrial process heating systems in their manufacturing sectors. This country-wise analysis is then used to compare with current Australian scenario and identify future prospects of integrating solar process heating in Australian industrial sectors. The choice of countries is based on a database where promising industrial sectors and solar process heating applications are currently using incident solar energy. These are analyzed for their potential of integration to developing solar heat in industrial processes (SHIP) and a number of potential industrial sectors that have the highest potential like Motor vehicles, Textiles, Printing, Wood, Paper, Fabricated metal, Rubber and plastics, chemicals, Food, beverages, electrical equipment, machinery, and equipment are being identified. An overview of available studies is discussed in this paper focused on specific countries and the industrial heat demand of existing operational plants. Future trends due to solar energy potential are also outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, industries and manufacturing sectors consume a major portion of the total consumption of energy, where most of the energy is used for low, medium or high temperature heat generation to be used for process applications known as process heat. The necessity to commercialize clean, cheap and efficient renewable sources of energy in industrial applications emerges from increasing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming and decreasing fossil fuel use in commercial sectors. As an abundant source of energy, solar energy technologies have proven potential. Recent research shows currently only a few industries are employing solar energy in industrial processes to generate process heat while replacing fossil fuels. Solar thermal power generation is already very well-known and getting popular in recent years while other potential applications of the concentrated heat from solar radiation are little explored. This review paper presents a detailed overview of the current potential and future aspects of involving solar industrial process heating systems in industrial applications. In order to keep pace with this emerging and fast growing sector for renewable energy applications, it is necessary to get in depth knowledge about the overall potential of industrial processes in individual industrial sector where solar process heat is currently in use and identifying industrial processes are most compatible for solar system integration depending on temperature level and the type of solar collector in use. Furthermore, the promising sectors needs to be identified for the use of solar heat using industrial processes for the integration of solar heat, so that countries with immense solar energy potential can use those technologies in future to reduce fossil fuel consumption and develop sustainable industrial systems. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the potential industrial processes that can adopt solar process heating systems and thus driving towards sustainable production in industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative impact of the mining industries on climate change, human health and ecosystems, arises from extensive use of fossil fuels. This could be mitigated by the integration of solar energy systems into mining processes, such as the use of solar industrial process heating systems in low-temperature mining processes. This paper estimates the resultant environmental impacts, which could result from the partial use of solar process heating in the aluminum, copper, ilmenite, rutile, lead, nickel, and uranium mining and extraction processes. The extensive analysis presented here contains multiple scenarios such as using flat plate solar collector and evacuated tube solar collector for process heat generation, including the base case scenario using fossil fuels. The novel analysis has quantified the overall reduction of environmental impacts on different categories of aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, carcinogens, non-carcinogens, and global warming. The analysis is done using SimaPro (version 8.5) utilising the IMPACT 2002 + method for 15 midpoints indicator-based categories and four endpoint indicator-based categories. The analysis results reveal valuable information regarding comparative impacts between the two types of solar collector considered and show that evacuated tube collectors would be more beneficial for environmental emission reduction. Image 1040 • Life cycle assessment of solar integrated mining processes have been conducted. • Metals considered are aluminum, copper, ilmenite, rutile, lead, nickel, and uranium. • IMPACT 2002 + method was used for conducting LCA of solar process heating systems. • Flat plate and evacuated tube collectors were integrated into mining processes. • Evacuated tube collector would be beneficial to reduce environmental burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable electricity generation technologies provide a more sustainable solution than the non-renewables. However, as a complete system, renewable energy generation systems have some overall environmental impacts on humankind, resources and ecosystems. This paper will address the environmental effects caused by different types of renewable plants through life-cycle assessment. A comparative study is done among solar PV, biomass, and pumped storage hydropower plants in the United States. Life-cycle impact analysis has been carried out by the Eco-indicator 99, TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other Environmental Impacts), CED (Cumulative Energy Demand), Ecopoints 97, RMF (Raw Material Flows) and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) methods, using the SimaPro software. The impacts are considered in 10 mid-point impact categories and three end-point indicators. The results show that pumped storage hydropower plants have the highest impact on human health (7.74E-05/kWh) and the ecosystem (3.35E-06/kWh), whereas biomass plants have the maximum effect on resources (4.79E-07/kWh). Overall, the solar PV plants are found to be much more environment-friendly than other renewable electricity generation systems. These findings will guide investors in installing sustainable and clean power plants. • Comparative environmental impacts of solar-PV, biomass and pumped storage hydropower plants was investigated. • Impacts are assessed by a systematic LCA analysis using the ecoinvent database and SimaPro software. • Solar-PV plants are found least hazardous to environment than other renewable energy plants in the United States. • Findings will guide the investors in installing the best renewable power plant considering the environmental aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Environmental impacts of hydropower plants in Europe is investigated by LCA analysis. • Impacts are estimated by the ReCiPe 2016, Impact 2002+, and Eco-points 97 methods. • Hydropower plants of alpine regions are found least hazardous to the environment. • Plants of non-alpine areas are 10 times responsible for climate change than alpines. Hydropower is the widely used source of clean energy which includes some hazardous emissions that affect human health, ecosystems, and resources. However, in spite of an enormous amount of hydropower generation in Europe, no research has been carried out in evaluating the hazardous emissions from the plants located in alpine and non-alpine areas. Therefore, this paper will analyse the comparative environmental impacts of hydropower plants in alpine and non-alpine areas of Europe by a systematic life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The impacts are estimated by the ReCiPe 2016, Impact 2002+, Eco-points 97 methods under a number of effect-assessing indicators such as global warming, ozone formation, eco-toxicity, water consumption, acidification, eutrophication, ionizing radiation, carcinogenic radiation, ozone depletion, and land use. Moreover, the fossil-fuel-based power consumptions and the greenhouse-gas emissions in the life-cycle of hydropower plants in both locations are estimated using the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, respectively. The outcomes reveal that hydropower plants of alpine regions offer a better environmental profile for the global-warming indicator (2.97 × 10 - 5 kg CO 2 -eq/MJ) than non-alpine plants (3.92 × 10 - 4 kg CO 2 -eq/MJ), but the effects are nearly identical for the other indicators. Overall, the hydropower plants of non-alpine regions are responsible for climate change with a rate 10 times as high as for alpine ones. The findings of this research will play a pivotal role in promoting sustainable production of hydropower, especially the full potentials of the alpine region, and thus leading towards environmentally friendly clean renewable electricity generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Implantable medical devices (IMDs) have experienced a rapid progress in recent years to the advancement of state‐of‐the‐art medical practices. However, the majority of this equipment requires external power sources like batteries to operate, which may restrict their application for in vivo situations. Furthermore, these external batteries of the IMDs need to be changed at times by surgical processes once expired, causing bodily and psychological annoyance to patients and rising healthcare financial burdens. Currently, harvesting biomechanical energy in vivo is considered as one of the most crucial energy‐based technologies to ensure sustainable operation of implanted medical devices. This review aims to highlight recent improvements in implantable triboelectric nanogenerators (iTENG) and implantable piezoelectric nanogenerators (iPENG) to drive self‐powered, wireless healthcare systems. Furthermore, their potential applications in cardiac monitoring, pacemaker energizing, nerve‐cell stimulating, orthodontic treatment and real‐time biomedical monitoring by scavenging the biomechanical power within the human body, such as heart beating, blood flowing, breathing, muscle stretching and continuous vibration of the lung are summarized and presented. Finally, a few crucial problems which significantly affect the output performance of iTENGs and iPENGs under in vivo environments are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for clean energy is strong, and the shift from fossil-fuel-based energy to environmentally friendly sources is the next step to eradicating the world's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solar energy technology has been touted as one of the most promising sources for low-carbon, non-fossil fuel energy production. However, the true potential of solar-based technologies is established by augmenting efficiency through satisfactory environmental performance in relation to other renewable energy systems. This paper presents an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) of a solar-photovoltaic (PV) system and a solar-thermal system. Single crystalline Si solar cells are considered for the solar PV system and an evacuated glass tube collector is considered for the solar thermal system in this analysis. A life-cycle inventory (LCI) is developed considering all inputs and outputs to assess and compare the environmental impacts of both systems for 16 impact indicators. LCA has been performed by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD), Impact 2002+, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), Eco-points 97, Eco-indicator 99 and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, using SimaPro software. The outcomes reveal that a solar-thermal framework provides more than four times release to air ( 100 % ) than the solar-PV ( 23.26 % ), and the outputs by a solar-PV system to soil ( 27.48 % ) and solid waste ( 35.15 % ) are about one third that of solar-thermal. The findings also depict that the solar panels are responsible for the most impact in the considered systems. Moreover, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis has also been carried out for both frameworks, which reveal that Li-ion batteries and copper-indium-selenium (CIS)-solar collectors perform better than others for most of the considered impact categories. This study revealed that a superior environmental performance can be achieved by both systems through careful selection of the components, taking into account the toxicity aspects, and by minimizing the impacts related to the solar panel, battery and heat storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]