End-of-Life Strategies

Transcription

1 Environmental Impacts of Alkaline Battery End-of-Life Strategies

2 What are the net environmental impacts of different end of life strategies for alkaline batteries in the United States? Landfill Car or Truck Transport Consolidation Truck Transport Incineration Materials recovery

3 Total Environmental Burden Using Cumulative Energy Demand For 1 kg weighted-average alkaline batteries (~30 batteries) percentage of AA, AAA, C, D, 9V sold in US in 2007 ~ 3% *EOL baseline: 87% / 13% mix of landfill/incineration [US MSW average, 2007] Slide 3

4 Total Environmental Burden Using Cumulative Energy Demand For 1 kg weighted-average alkaline batteries (~30 batteries) percentage of AA, AAA, C, D, 9V sold in US in (kg CO 2 eq) GWP ~ 13% 0 Production EOL *EOL baseline: 87% / 13% mix of landfill/incineration [US MSW average, 2007] Slide 4

5 Environmental burden from production of 1 kg alkaline: Cumulative Energy Demand Cumulative Energy Demand (MJ J) For 1 kg weighted-average alkaline batteries percentage of AA, AAA, C, D, 9V sold in US in Materials production Manufacturing Packaging Transport Note: does not include packaging facility energy use Slide 5

6 Environmental burden from Raw Materials: Cumulative Energy Demand For 1 kg weighted-average alkaline batteries percentage of AA, AAA, C, D, 9V sold in US in 2007 Cum mulative En nergy Dema and (MJ) MnO 2 Zinc Materials Slide 6

7 Total Environmental Burden Using Eco-indicator 99 Midpoints For 1 kg weighted-average alkaline batteries percentage of AA, AAA, C, D, 9V sold in US in 2007 Human Heal lth (DALY) 4.E-6 2.E-6 ~ 16% toxicity (PD DF*m2yr) ~ 26% 0.E+0 Production Use EOL Eco 0.0 Production Use EOL EOL baseline: 87% / 13% mix of landfill/incineration [US MSW average, 2007] Slide 7

8 Assessment Methods: Relative Magnitudes Product or Process CED GWP Human Health Ecotoxicity (MJ) (kg CO 2 eq) (DALY) (PDF*m 2 yr) PET bottle x Al can x Production of 1 kg weightedaverage alkaline batteries x Car: 100 km driving x x Coffee pot: 5 years x Slide 8

9 Evaluating end-of-life environmental impact: When does benefit outweigh burden? Collection Burden Associated with truck (car) transport: fuel consumption Processing Burden Associated with landfill or recycling process: energy use Materials Benefit Associated with recovery process: avoided resource extraction and contamination Environmental Burden Environmental Benefit Benefit for a Material Benefit for another Material Benefit for a Material Benefit for another Material Note: schematic only, not real results Landfill Materials Recovery Slide 9

10 End-of-life Scope Focus on California Burden from materials disposition of 1 kg of weighted average batteries Disposal Collection: MSW Based on fuel consumption from CA MSW vehicles Avg. battery distance traveled vary with population density Treatment: landfill/incineration Recycling Collection: Retail/municipal drop-off for recycling 600 existing RBRC CA sites Collection burden includes consumer drop-off at a nearby RBRC site and transport from RBRC site to recycler (average between North American recyclers) Treatment: pyrometallurgical Processing burden = average of 3 North American recyclers + Electric Arc Furnace + 2 EU recyclers including error bars describing variation between processes Error bars on materials benefit includes different materials credits Excluded items: Sorting facility, collection container Slide 10

11 Transportation Scenarios: Curbside Baseline in the trash Mass-based allocation Picked up with trash but for recycling Mass-based allocation for typical trash route Add recycler distances: Teck Cominco, Inmetco, Regional steel mini-mills Picked up with curbside recycling Truck could be volume-limited, typical recycler route Add recycler distances: Teck Cominco, Inmetco, Regional steel mini-mills Distance based on literature and interviews Vary with population density Slide 11

12 Transportation Scenarios: Drop-off Step 1: Consumer take to drop-off location Allocation scenario change depending on whether retail or municipal Mileage based on modeling and literature Step 2: Fedex/UPS to take to hub on backhaul from retail store Allocation scenario 0% or mass-based on backhaul Mileage based on modeling and literature Step 3: Truck from hub to recycler Mass-based allocation Recycler distances: Teck Cominco, Inmetco, Regional steel mini-mills Slide 12

13 Recycling Technologies Teck Cominco: Trail, BC Inputs: Coal-fired slag fuming furnace & Hydropower Outputs: Zn, Slag (Fe/Mn), C and plastic to fuel, some air emissions Inmetco: Ellwood City, PA & regional EAFs Inputs: Power to furnace Outputs: Zn (processed off-site), Steel, Slag (Mn) RMC: Port Colburn, ON European recyclers Inputs: Power to furnace Outputs: Ferromanganese, Zinc or Zinc oxide RMC process Slide 13

14 Key Findings The benefit of recycling alkaline batteries at endof life depends considerably on several factors: Energy intensity of the recycling scenario Mass and nature of materials recovery Prevalence of dedicated ddi tdti trips to drop off batteries Impact assessmentmethod method (energy vs. toxicity) Slide 14