Assessing the Life Cycle Performance in the Metallurgical Sector: A Case Study in Italy

Main Article Content

Giuliana Vinci
Marco Ruggeri
Carlo Barricella

Abstract

This study compared two types of sheets: one made of steel and one made of aluminum, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The LCA results show that the aluminum sheet had a greater environmental impact than the steel one in 11 out of 18 impact categories, such as a 5% higher Global Warming Potential, 3% higher Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, and 72% higher Ionizing Radiation. The main contributing factors were energy-intensive processes and bauxite processing associated with aluminum production. The LCC results also supported the findings of the LCA, demonstrating that the raw material, electricity, and labor costs for aluminum sheets were higher compared to steel ones, with the aluminum sheets costing €163 and the steel ones costing €19. However, the S-LCA results presented a contrasting perspective. They indicated that steel sheets exhibited poorer social performance compared to aluminum ones, particularly regarding child labor and discrimination, primarily due to the harsh working conditions in Ghana, the primary source of iron used in steel production. Overall, this study highlights the environmental superiority of steel screens over aluminum ones but also underscores the social challenges associated with steel production.

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[1]
Giuliana Vinci, Marco Ruggeri, and Carlo Barricella , Trans., “Assessing the Life Cycle Performance in the Metallurgical Sector: A Case Study in Italy”, IJITEE, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 22–27, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.35940/ijitee.I9702.0812923.
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Author Biographies

Giuliana Vinci, Department of Management, Sapienza University of (Rome), Italy.

Giuliana Vinci is a full professor of commodity sciences at the Faculty of Economics at the Sapienza University of Rome. She has more than 330 scientific publications in research areas such as Sustainable Development, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Food Quality and Food Safety, Food Science Technology, and Environmental Science.

Marco Ruggeri, Department of Management, Sapienza University of (Rome), Italy.

Marco Ruggeri is a research fellow at the Faculty of Economics at the Sapienza University of Rome. His scientific production counts about 35 publications on subject areas such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S.LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Industry 4.0, food safety, and food quality.

Carlo Barricella, Department of Management, Sapienza University of (Rome), Italy.

Carlo Barricella is a recent graduate in Economics from the Sapienza University of Rome. In his master's thesis, he highlighted the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of steel and aluminum production.

How to Cite

[1]
Giuliana Vinci, Marco Ruggeri, and Carlo Barricella , Trans., “Assessing the Life Cycle Performance in the Metallurgical Sector: A Case Study in Italy”, IJITEE, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 22–27, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.35940/ijitee.I9702.0812923.
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