Inventário do ciclo de vida do carvão para fins térmicos: transporte e carvoaria

Abstract

The present study aims to assess the environmental impact deriving from wood processing for charcoal production (by process of pyrolysis) in Brazil. Charcoal’s relevance is significant, especially in the production of pig iron, a basic input to produce cast iron and steel, being, in the last 10 years, responsible for 25% to 30% of brazilian pig iron’s production. The damages associated to transport and processing of wood can be measured with the support of Life Cycle Assessment. Ecoinvent, a swiss database, bears extensive european data, but lacks information of the Brazilian and emerging countries’ scenery. Given this reality, a literature review and a field research were necessary to clearly define the parameters to be collected. Based on all aggregated information, a database was created with different types of kilns for the carbonization process. This allowed life cycle impact comparisons between the different carbonizations processes and between a pyrolysis and the transportation, which showed itself as a minor contributor. As for the carbonization technologies, clear improvements with new methods like gas condensation and post gas combustion were perceived, as with more modern kilns.