Environmental Life Cycle Assessment - A Successful Tool for Sustainable Development in Steel Industries

The Iron and Steel industry is facing a serious challenge today both in the developed countries as well as in the newly industrialized parts of the world due to the Energy price escalation, natural resource depletion, and wide-spread environmental degradation. In the present situation, the steel industry, as a highly material and energy demanding technology oriented sector, not only needs to address the obvious questions of profitability, innovation and adaptation to new technology but also has to refocus its attention on its overall responsibility to the society in terms of environmental performance. There is a realization that product design and consumer behavior can affect the overall environmental performance and efficiency of a product. Among the tools and methodologies available to evaluate the environmental, economic and social performance of materials and consumer products (including their impact on climate change and natural resources), life cycle assessment (LCA) provides a holistic approach that considers the potential impacts from all stages of manufacture, product use and end-of-life.

In this paper assessment result of environmental impacts in iron & steel-making system based on LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) will be presented. LCA is important tool in implementing the Environmental Management System (EMS). LCA is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with the product or technology. LCA is an environmental assessment tool for evaluation of impacts that a technology or product has on the environment over the entire period of its life - from the extraction of the raw material through the manufacturing, packaging and marketing processes, the use, re-use and maintenance of the product, to its eventual recycling or disposal as waste at the end of its useful life. In this paper, special attention is given to handling and management of wastes and, therefore, wastes minimization initiatives through resources, recycling, reuse and ULCOS (Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking) for promoting Sustainable development in Steel Industries.