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Life cycle inventory for electricity generation in China

  • LCA Case Studies
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Abstract

Background, Goal and Scope

The objective of this study was to produce detailed a life cycle inventory (LCI) for the provision of 1 kWh of electricity to consumers in China in 2002 in order to identify areas of improvement in the industry. The system boundaries were processes in power stations, and the construction and operation of infrastructure were not included. The scope of this study was the consumption of fossil fuels and the emissions of air pollutants, water pollutants and solid wastes, which are listed as follows: (1) consumption of fossil fuels, including general fuels, such as raw coal, crude oil and natural gas, and the uranium used for nuclear power; (2) emissions of air pollutants from thermal power, hydropower and nuclear power plants; (3) emissions of water pollutants, including general water waste from fuel electric plants and radioactive waste fluid from nuclear power plants; (4) emissions of solid wastes, including fly ash and slag from thermal power plants and radioactive solid wastes from nuclear power plants.

Methods

Data were collected regarding the amount of fuel, properties of fuel and the technical parameters of the power plants. The emissions of CO2, SO2, NOx, CH4, CO, non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC), dust and heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) from thermal power plants as well as fuel production and distribution were estimated. The emissions of CO2 and CH4 from hydropower plants and radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants were also investigated. Finally, the life cycle inventory for China’s electricity industry was calculated and analyzed.

Results

Related to 1 kWh of usable electricity in China in 2002, the consumption of coal, oil, gas and enriched uranium were 4.57E-01, 8.88E-03, 7.95E-03 and 9.03E-08 kg; the emissions of CO2, SO2, NOx, CO, CH4, NMVOC, dust, As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn were 8.77E-01, 8.04E-03, 5.23E-03, 1.25E-03, 2.65E-03, 3.95E-04, 1.63E-02, 1.62E-06, 1.03E-08, 1.37E-07, 7.11E-08, 2.03E-07, 1.42E-06, 2.33E-06, and 1.94E-06 kg; the emissions of waste water, COD, coal fly ash, and slag were 1.31, 6.02E-05, 8.34E-02, and 1.87E-02 kg; and the emissions of inactive gas, halogen and gasoloid, tritium, non-tritium, and radioactive solid waste were 3.74E+01 Bq, 1.61E-01 Bq, 4.22E+01 Bq, 4.06E-02 Bq, and 2.68E-10 m3 respectively.

Conclusions

The comparison result between the LCI data of China’s electricity industry and that of Japan showed that most emission intensities of China’s electricity industry were higher than that of Japan except for NMVOC. Compared with emission intensities of the electricity industry in Japan, the emission intensities of CO2 and Ni in China were about double; the emission intensities of NOx, Cd, CO, Cr, Hg and SO2 in China were more than 10 times that of Japan; and the emission intensities of CH4, V, Pb, Zn, As and dust were more than 20 times. The reasons for such disparities were also analyzed.

Recommendations and Perspectives

To get better LCI for the electricity industry in China, it is important to estimate the life cycle emissions during fuel production and transportation for China. Another future improvement could be the development of LCIs for construction and operation of infrastructure such as factory buildings and dams. It would also be important to add the information about land use for hydropower.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Key Lab for Advanced Functional Materials of State Education Ministry, Beijing, 100022, China

    Xianghua Di, Zuroen Nie, Baorong Yuan & Tieyong Zuo

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  1. Xianghua Di
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  2. Zuroen Nie
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  3. Baorong Yuan
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  4. Tieyong Zuo
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Correspondence to Zuroen Nie.

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Di, X., Nie, Z., Yuan, B. et al. Life cycle inventory for electricity generation in China. Int J Life Cycle Assess 12, 217–224 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1065/lca2007.05.331

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1065/lca2007.05.331

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