Our environment is extremely important to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1PCC) and other environmental protection agencies because it is a place where flora and fauna as well as the entire human population of the world exist. This report evaluates the environmental impacts resulting from the use of coal as a source of fuel for electricity power generation and coal as a fuel source to generate electricity for steel production process. GABI models were developed for each of the processes and used for the assessment and analysis to ensure compliance with ISO 14044 standards. After identifying the numerous forms of emission obtained from GABI software, the results were compared to determine the environmental impact and severity of each process. The result for Global Warming Potential (GWP) using coal as a fuel source for steel production accounted for 129.7029 Kg of CO2 equivalence compared to 0.447267Kg of CO2 equivalence result obtained as the GWP for using coal as fuel source for electric power generation. Similarly, the result obtained for acidification when coal is used as a fuel source for steel production recorded 0.360921Kg of SO4 equivalence compared to 1.4026Kg of SO4 equivalence obtained as acidification value for using coal as fuel source for electric power generation. Furthermore, the result obtained for Eutrophication when coal is used as a source of fuel for steel production accounted for -1389.273e-4Kg of phosphate equivalence compared to 2.2417Kg of phosphate equivalence obtained as the Eutrophication value for using coal as a source of fuel for electric power generation. From the aforementioned results, Eutrophication potential and Acidification potential would have lower environmental impacts for both processes whereas, the GWP for electric power generation was quite minimal while GWP for steel production using coal as a fuel source would have relatively high impact on the environment. For this reasons, it was concluded that electric power generation using coal as a source of fuel has less environmental impact whereas, steel production using coal as a source of fuel may not be environmentally friendly due to the high GWP obtained in this report.
Multi-criteria decision making approach to optimization of fuel-mix choice for electric power generation under environmental impact constraints.