Life cycle Assessment of a Petroleum Contaminated Soils Thermal Desorption Unit
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Experimental Research. Published by Enugu State University of Science & Technology
Abstract
Environmental issues involving the oil and gas industry have been growing in awareness; therefore high priority is given to waste handling and disposal. Although the thermal desorption unit (TDU) is meant to reduce the environmental damage of the waste from oil industries, it may also contribute to the damage. A way of putting this to check is by taking the life cycle assessment of the operation. This study presents the environmental impact assessment using a gate-to-gate approach of a thermal desorption unit in Nigeria, analyzed following ISO 14040 standards. GaBi software obtained from PE international was used to carry out the analysis with the management of 46,541,880kg of the waste mix for a period of 365 days considering the worstcase scenario as the functional unit. The results showed the fossil depletion is about 2,516,253 kg of oil equivalent, water depletion is 0.883 m and particles to air is close to 35% of the particles generated. Weak point analysis to show the unit with the greatest impact on the environment was also estimated by GaBi. This study proves that operation of a TDU can be certified eco-friendly.