Life cycle assessment of acetylene production from calcium carbide and methane in China

Currently, resource and environmental issues are becoming increasingly prominent, and human populations are facing many challenges from this perspective. Acetylene is an important raw material in China's national economy, but previous studies on the environmental performance of its production process were not sufficiently comprehensive. In this study, a life cycle assessment was conducted, using the CML 2001 method, to evaluate the environmental impact of acetylene production using the calcium carbide, methane partial oxidation, and methane plasma methods. At the same time, the impacts of technology improvements, energy substitution, and policy planning on the environmental performance of the three acetylene production methods were studied. The results showed that under the current electric power generation structure, the partial oxidation method exhibited the best environmental performance, followed by the plasma method. With increasing use of renewable energy in China, the plasma method will eventually have more advantages than the partial oxidation method, in terms of its environmental credentials; the environmental performance gap between the calcium carbide method and the other two methods will gradually narrow. The purposes of this study were to compare the environmental performance of these three acetylene production methods, to find ways to reduce the environmental burdens of acetylene production, and to provide a reference for the sustainable development of the acetylene industry in China.