Análisis del inventario del ciclo de vida en la determinación de la energía contenida y las emisiones de CO2 en el proceso de fabricación del hormigón premezclado; caso de estudio: planta premezcladora de la ciudad Cuenca

Abstract

Industry and transport are anthropogenicactivitiesresponsiblefor a highenergyexpenditure at a global level. Theconstructionindustryinvolvessignificantenvironmentalimpacts in terms of consumption of natural resources, energy and greenhouse gas emissions. In theworld and in Ecuador, one of themostusedbuildingmaterialsis concrete. In thiscontext, thepresentresearch shows theresults of thedetermination of containedenergy and CO2emissionsassociatedwiththe concrete manufacturingprocess, considering as a case study a pre-mix plant in thecity of Cuenca, throughtheapplication of A SimplifiedLifeCycleAnalysis "fromdoortodoor". Whenapplyingthe "LifeCycleInventory" (ICV) as establishedby ISO 14040: 2006, thestudydeterminedthatto produce 1 m3 of premixed concrete requires 568.69 MJ, whichgeneratesemissionstotheenvironment of 42, 83 kg of CO2 / m3. Theactivitytowhichthehighestpercentage of energyconsumption and CO2emissions are attributedcorrespondstoindirecttransport (transport of raw material).