Comparative LCA study of different methods of the feed phosphates (FPs) production

The paper presents an application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to compare the environmental impacts of the various methods of the feed phosphates (FPs) production. The three Scenarios of the FPs production technologies were compared - modified thermal method (one installation) and low-temperature endothermic methods (two different installations). A functional unit of the system was defined as 1 Mg of P2O5 contained in the obtained each feed phosphates – defluorinated phosphate (DFP) and dicalcium phosphate (DCP). The overall results show that the production process of FPs affects the environment primarily through the use of the phosphorous raw materials and electricity consumption. Production of FPs causes the highest values in the impact category freshwater eco-toxicity. The comparative LCA analysis showed that the highest impact on the environment was associated with the use of the low-temperature method on the modified the DFP installation. The DFP production with the use of the modified thermal method showed 52% lower impact and the DCP production with the use of the low-temperature endothermic method on the new installation was associated with 6% lower impact. From the environmental point of view, the recommended solution is the basic DFP technology. Development of new or modification of existing FPs production methods with the better environmental performance could be considered as the clean technologies.