Uso da avaliação do ciclo de vida para a determinação na redução de emissões de gases do efeito estufa e do consumo de energia associados a reciclagem de EPS

• Autor(a) principal: Cruz, Tatiane Tobias da [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/127968; http://www.athena.biblioteca.unesp.br/exlibris/bd/cathedra/10-09-2015/000848220.pdf
• topic: Poliestireno - Reaproveitamento; Energia - Consumo; Petróleo; Gases estufa; Ciclo de vida do produto; Gas natural; Polystyrene

Plastic wastes are a serious environmental problem because degradation is difficult due to a low chemical reactivity. As these materials are obtained from oil and gas, a non-renewable resource, recycling is of major interest since early stages of virgin raw material manufacture can be eliminated, resulting in a decrease in energy expenditure and consequent reduction of pollutant emissions associated with the process of obtaining the virgin raw material. This study evaluated two processes of EPS recycling in order to prove the benefits of its application, as regards the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, using life cycle assessment techniques (LCA). The first process, called recycling by steam injection, consists of inserting from 30 to 40% of EPS residues together with virgin raw material in the conventional EPS production process to produce EPS blocks. The second process, called thermomecanical recycling consists of mechanical recycling through grinding, agglomeration, mixing and molding to obtain recycled polystyrene. Firstly an analysis of energy consumption of EPS production and recycling processes was performed and then the cumulative energy demand (CED) throughout EPS entire life cycle was evaluated. Subsequently is carried out GHG emissions analysis from EPS production, recycling processes and EPS entire life cycle to quantify the levels of emissions considering the global warming potential for the time horizon of 100 years. Both analyzes were made by applying LCA methodology through the use of technical reports, scientific literature and Ecoinvent database. The results showed that the EPS recycling processes studied promote the reduction of energy consumption and GHG emissions in the manufacture and EPS life cycle when compared to disposal of this material in landfills, also resulting in decreased use of natural resources (oil and gas)