Abstract
With increasing complexity of soil contamination and more variety in remediation technologies, remediation alternatives must be assessed thoroughly and urgently. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to analyze the environmental impact of a technical process and avoid the transfer of the environmental impact. LCA has been applied in soil remediation technology from a single method to a combination of multiple methods, focusing on a few environmental impacts to approximately 20 types of environmental impacts. The life-cycle stage contributions and environmental impact characteristics of LCA are also reviewed. The proposed optimization measures cover the life cycle stages, specific energies or substances, and technology process nodes. The LCA methodology framework of remediation technology must be established by including functional unit determination considering the remediation duration and environmental impact selection methods. Primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts should be considered to reflect technical efficiency, process optimization of technology, and land reuse after restoration. LCA application still needs to be improved in terms of technological processes to reveal the relationship between technical parameters and environmental impacts. This study provides an insightful overview of the methodological elements of LCA in soil remediation technology evaluation, such as the functional unit definition, the system boundary determination, and the selection of impact categories, which can support the revolution of LCA methods applied in soil remediation technology.
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This work was supported by grants from the Scientific Instrument Developing Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant No. YJKYYQ20190029.
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ND contributed to conceiving the idea, searching literature, writing, reviewing, editing of the manuscript, and revising the work. XM contributed to conceiving the idea, searching literature, writing, reviewing, editing of the manuscript, and revising the work. ZZ contributed to searching literature, writing, reviewing, editing of the manuscript. JM contributed to searching literature, writing, editing of the manuscript. YS contributed to searching literature, writing, reviewing of the manuscript. ZZ contributed to reviewing and revising the work. HY contributed to reviewing of the manuscript. ML contributed to reviewing of the manuscript. WJ contributed to conceiving the idea, reviewing, editing of the manuscript, and revising the work.
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Ding, N., Meng, X., Zhang, Z. et al. A Review of Life Cycle Assessment of Soil Remediation Technology: Method Applications and Technological Characteristics. Reviews Env.Contamination (formerly:Residue Reviews) 262, 4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44169-023-00051-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44169-023-00051-z