Life Cycle Analysis
ILZRO initiates life cycle initiative
On behalf of ILA, the International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO) has appointed PE INTERNATIONAL to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment for the production of primary and secondary lead in the EU.
Focused on lead production within the EU27, this study will generate valuable information that characterises the current state of lead industry performance in the production of lead for use within the European Commission's Life Cycle Platform. The Life Cycle Platform initiative comprises a database that depicts the production profile of major commodity materials and is to be the official database for Life Cycle Assessment information within the EU. Platform data will support information needs as diverse as establishing the 'ecoprofile' of substances to determining the 'carbon footprint' of different industrial materials. Data on lead currently contained within the Platform does not reflect the high rate of recycling occurring within the EU and largely depicts lead production as a co-generation product from a former generation of primary smelters. This inaccurate portrayal of lead production will be corrected by the new study.
The project will examine the impact of improved production technologies and higher recycling rates on the 'ecoprofile' of lead. In addition to generating an overall model of lead production, participating companies will have the opportunity to benchmark their own production performance against that of the combined model. Such benchmarking identifies areas where improvements might be possible on issues ranging from energy efficiency and green house gas emissions to the environmental emissions of metals such as lead.
