Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling
Gypsum is widely used in the construction sector, and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the lifetime of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/2/101 |
| _version_ | 1797408992555696128 |
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| author | Karin Weimann Christian Adam Matthias Buchert Juergen Sutter |
| author_facet | Karin Weimann Christian Adam Matthias Buchert Juergen Sutter |
| author_sort | Karin Weimann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gypsum is widely used in the construction sector, and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the lifetime of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy, the recycling of waste gypsum is of growing importance. However, the use of recycled gypsum only makes sense if it is environmentally friendly. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impacts of industrial-scale processing for the recycling of post-consumer gypsum waste was conducted. The evaluation was performed with an established life cycle assessment software. Original data provided by the industry and complementary data from a database for life cycle assessments were used for the calculations. Two scenarios for recycled gypsum with different transportation distances were calculated. These results were compared with the results of the environmental evaluation of gypsum derived from coal-fired power plants (FGD gypsum) and natural gypsum. The results showed that the utilization of recycled gypsum can be environmentally advantageous compared to the use of natural gypsum or FGD gypsum, especially in the impact categories of land transformation and resource consumption (abiotic depletion potential). For most environmental impact categories, the specific transportation distances have a strong influence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:06:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c9ae67ac1e5484ca9f8d63d73101149 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:06:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c9ae67ac1e5484ca9f8d63d731011492023-12-03T14:05:11ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2021-01-0111210110.3390/min11020101Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard RecyclingKarin Weimann0Christian Adam1Matthias Buchert2Juergen Sutter3Division Thermochemical Residues Treatment and Resource Recovery (FB 4.4), Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 87, D-12205 Berlin, GermanyDivision Thermochemical Residues Treatment and Resource Recovery (FB 4.4), Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 87, D-12205 Berlin, GermanyDivision Resources & Transport, Oeko-Institute, Rheinstrasse 95, 64295 Darmstadt, GermanyDivision Resources & Transport, Oeko-Institute, Rheinstrasse 95, 64295 Darmstadt, GermanyGypsum is widely used in the construction sector, and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the lifetime of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy, the recycling of waste gypsum is of growing importance. However, the use of recycled gypsum only makes sense if it is environmentally friendly. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impacts of industrial-scale processing for the recycling of post-consumer gypsum waste was conducted. The evaluation was performed with an established life cycle assessment software. Original data provided by the industry and complementary data from a database for life cycle assessments were used for the calculations. Two scenarios for recycled gypsum with different transportation distances were calculated. These results were compared with the results of the environmental evaluation of gypsum derived from coal-fired power plants (FGD gypsum) and natural gypsum. The results showed that the utilization of recycled gypsum can be environmentally advantageous compared to the use of natural gypsum or FGD gypsum, especially in the impact categories of land transformation and resource consumption (abiotic depletion potential). For most environmental impact categories, the specific transportation distances have a strong influence.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/2/101gypsum plasterboardsgypsum wasterecycled gypsumenvironmental evaluationLCA |
| spellingShingle | Karin Weimann Christian Adam Matthias Buchert Juergen Sutter Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling Minerals gypsum plasterboards gypsum waste recycled gypsum environmental evaluation LCA |
| title | Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling |
| title_full | Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling |
| title_short | Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling |
| title_sort | environmental evaluation of gypsum plasterboard recycling |
| topic | gypsum plasterboards gypsum waste recycled gypsum environmental evaluation LCA |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/2/101 |
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