Assessing the environmental impacts of copper cathode production based on life cycle assessment

The demand for copper is growing considerably in parallel with economic and technological development. The rate increase in copper consumption in Iran increases pressure on the numerous unexploited mines in southeast Iran and causes the environmental crisis alongside the northern Levar wind in this area. Given this, this study systematically explored the environmental impacts of a one-ton copper cathode processing operation from a cradle-to-gate perspective, using life cycle assessment (LCA). Moreover, the release of greenhouse gases and the energy consumption during the copper cathode production were also assessed. The results indicated that sulfuric acid use in the smelting and extraction stages, metal leaching from tailings, and CO₂ dominated more than 50% of contributions to freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and global warming. The energy analysis revealed 88.92% of crude oil use especially for the electrowinning stage, which should be promoted technologically. For global warming, the indirect CO₂ emission from electricity consumption using fossil fuels was the main contributor (94.56%). Therefore, shifting from conventional energy systems to renewable energy systems could alleviate the overall environmental impact. For a 0.57-ton sulfuric acid effluent per one ton of copper cathode production, its treatment and reuse in the process is recommended. Summing up, the results of this study provide the environmental hot spots for copper cathode production for further investigation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:1180-1190. © 2023 SETAC.