Assessing Environmental Impact of Aluminum Ash Disposal in China by Using Life Cycle Assessment: Resource Consumption, Environmental Pollution, Ecotoxicity and Human Toxicity

Aluminum is an important renewable resource and has ‘green’ attributes, but the production and recycling of aluminum probably have a certain environmental impact. However, existing studies mainly focus on the ecological and climatic impacts of electrolyte aluminum and secondary aluminum, and lack of environmental impact analysis on the disposal of solid waste from aluminum production process, such as aluminum ash. Based on the life cycle assessment method, this study examined the environmental impacts of four major aluminum ash treatment methods in four categories: Resource Consumption, Environmental Pollution, Ecotoxicity, and Human Toxicity, respectively. The results showed that the combined use of low carbon metal raw materials and clean energy can significantly reduce the environmental impact. This study can promote the low-carbon and green development of aluminum ash disposal industry, and provide reference for measuring the environmental impact of secondary aluminum.