Avaliação ambiental do ciclo de vida do vidro sodo-cálcico com a incorporação da Lama do Beneficiamento de Rochas Ornamentais

Abstract

The ornamental stone industry mobilizes large volumes of raw materials in its production process, generating various types of waste, such as the Ornamental Stone Processing Sludge (SOSP). Alternatives must be sought for the recycling and treatment of waste from ornamentais rocks. The incorporation of SOSP in civil construction materials has been considerably investigated to evaluate its behavior in chemical and physical properties, as for example in the production of soda-lime glass. However, research on the environmental assessment of its use still needs to gain greater proportions, especially in Brazil. Methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be applied to verify the potential environmental impacts associated with changes in product composition. Thus this dissertation aims to perform an LCA in order to evaluate the environmental viability of soda-lime glass with the incorporation of SOSP for a Brazilian scenario. The computer program OpenLCA 1.10.3 was used to perform an evaluation in conjunction with data obtained from observations in the laboratory and technical visit, from other literature, and also from the Ecoinvent 3.6 database. For the environmental impact assessment (EIA), the CED, IPCC 2013, and Impact+2002 methods were used. From the results, soda-lime glass with replacement of industrial sand (silica) by SOSP showed a reduction in energy consumption, CO2 eq emissions and total impact when compared to conventional soda-lime glass, making it an environmentally advantageous replacement. For all these reasons, the state of Espírito Santo has potential for the installation of a glass factory.