Life cycle assessment model for small-scale coal mining operations with equivalent coal output: a greener perspective towards coal mining

While the world pivots towards green energy, coal still holds a critical position in the energy landscape, yet the environmental impacts of its extraction, particularly in small-scale operations, remain insufficiently explored. This study presents the first results regarding environmental impacts stemming from small-scale coal mines with equivalent production levels. A comparative study of three coal mines (classified as Mine X, Mine Y, and Mine Z) is carried out to evaluate the environmental footprint of processes and associated products using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The results indicate that compared to Mine X and Mine Y, Mine Z poses the highest environmental footprint among all the categories; however, in global warming, freshwater eutrophication, human carcinogenic toxicity, and mineral resource scarcity, the effects of Mine Y are higher. Substance contribution results show that the transport using a lorry (95.35%) in Mine Z, steel consumption (79.71%) in Mine Y, coal production (88.65%) in Mine X, and ventilation (94.39%) in Mine Z undergoes the highest level of ecological damage induced by terrestrial ecotoxicity, human carcinogenic toxicity, fossil resource scarcity, and terrestrial acidification respectively. Comprehensive analysis demonstrates that the transportation system is greatly impacted succeeded by the hoisting, ventilation, and coal mining systems. Amidst them, transport by lorry, steel usage, ventilation, and electricity utilization stand out as the primary sources causing an ecological footprint and, therefore, require special attention. This research emphasizes the importance of sustainable and greener coal mining practices by drawing attention to the ecosystem footprints of small-scale coal mining operations with the same production output.