Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Refuse-Derived Fuel as a Partial Substitute for Coal in Cement Production: A Case Study in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Autores

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18041/1900-3803/entramado.1.13173

Palavras-chave:

Life cycle assessment, LCA, Sustainability, Cement industry, Refuse derived fuels, RDF

Resumo

Substitution of fossil fuels in cement kilns with refuse-derived fuels (RDF) has received widespread attention, driven by the need to reduce emissions and improve economic feasibility. Cement kiln installations in Colombia have reported the coprocessing of various waste streams in their operations. Yet, no information regarding the potential environmental benefits of incorporating an alternative fuel was found. Therefore, in this study, an LCA is developed for a hypothetical cement plant located in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, comparing the partial substitution of coal for RDF, in terms of potential reduction of environmental impacts, to the baseline scenario. Inventory results showed the main contributor to CO2 emissions is limestone decomposition. The LCA results showed a 6 % decrease in CO2 emissions in the process with partial substitution. Yet, other categories showed a reduction of approximately 20 %, consistent with the coal reduction percentage, indicating that substituting RDF for coal could reduce impacts from the cement industry. 

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Biografia do Autor

  • Víctor F. Marulanda-Cardona, Universidad del Valle, Faculty of Engineering, Cali - Colombia

    Full professor at the School of Chemical Engineering at Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia). He holds a PhD in engineering from the same university. His main areas of research are related to the application of high pressure and temperature fluids to carry out chemical reactions and separations with potential applications for biorefinery applications, biofuels and bioenergy, and waste treatment, as well as the incorporation of green engineering tools to assess the sustainability of the proposed process options. 

  • Pady O. Valencia-Ante, Universidad del Valle, Faculty of Engineering, Cali-Colombia

    Specialist degree in Environmental and Sanitary Engineering from the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia). With more than 20 years of professional experience in the cement industry, sustainability assessment, environmental management,t plants, and ISO 14000 auditing and certification. Her current work encompasses sustainability assessment through life cycle assessment, as per ISO 14040 guidelines, and the application of green process metrics to evaluate the greenness of process options. 

Referências

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Publicado

2026-01-15

Edição

v. 22 n. 1 (2026): Entramado

Seção

TÓPICO LIVRE - ARTIGO DE PESQUISA

Licença

Copyright (c) 2026 Entramado

Creative Commons License

Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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