Allocation of the Environmental Impact in Iron and Steel Industry

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can provide technical support for environmental management in China. However, there is no consensus on allocation method in inventory analysis. According to the World Steel Association (WAS), the environmental impact, life cycle environmental load and environmental benefit of China's iron and steel industry should be considerd when investing scrap iron and steel. The results of this study show that according to the different allocation methods, the environmental impact of China's iron and steel industry will be divided into 3 methods: 1) not considering environmental load and environmental benefit of the environment (Cut-off approach); 2) considering the environmental load or environmental benefits (Waste evaluation method) and 3) considering environmental load and environmental benefits (Recycling benefits method). The environmental impact of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel billet is raising by using the waste evaluation method compared with that of basic oxygen furnace (BOF), which are all decreased by using the cut-off approach. Recycling benefits method compared with Cut-off approach that the BOF hot rolled steel coil (HRC) environmental impact, the environmental impact of EAF steel billet all decreased, and leading the BOF hot rolled steel coil environmental impact to a larger proportion of the environmental impact.