Title: Life cycle assessment of marble industry for cleaner production technology as a pollution prevention measure

Abstract

Marble Processing Industry is considered in the category of environmentally unfriendly industry since they produce enormous quantities of wastewater, stone slurries, scrap, and powder wastes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the entire process based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14040- 44 methodological framework and quantify the impact in terms of resource consumption, water, energy, and on the environment; and to identify hotspots for cleaner production potential. Material Inputs and outputs are based on 1 tonne finished product as a functional unit were determined using Life Cycle Inventory. The results of life cycle inventory were statistically analyzed using Sankey Matic beta and SimaPro LCA software. It was estimated that 1-tonne marble tiles production requires 0.028MWh electricity, 1.25 tonne (1250 kg) of quarried marble stone, and 0.75 m3 (750 L) of cooling water. Approximately, 0.25 tonne (250kg) of marble stone gets wasted in the form of scrap stone and marble powder, 97 % of the cooling water inputs leave the processing facilities as wastewater and the remaining 03% leave the processing facility as evaporation and moisture per unit tonne of the finished product. Using LCA analysis data sets the study identified three hotspots of waste produced during marble processing in MPU. These included marble scrap waste, marble powder, and wastewater. The study recommends that marble scrap shall be properly marketed for onward use because 98% of marble waste is composed of CaCO Wastewater shall be recycled and reused to avoid water pollution. It is recommended that the current LCA dataset of the marble production chain should be extended to other production scenarios and alternative technological options like process modification for cleaner production technology.