CASE STUDY
Kennecott Utah Copper conducts life cycle assessments
Kennecott Utah Copper, a mining, smelting, and refining company, conducted a life cycle assessment study on the sulphuric acid it sells as a by-product of its copper smelting process at the request of a key customer.
Cargill-Dow LLC made the request as it was seeking a ‘green’ sulphuric acid for its bio-based polymer. In the U.S., Kennecott is the largest producer of sulphuric acid and its smelter captures 99.9% of the sulphur dioxide emissions produced. The life cycle study included the mine and the process. Cargill-Dow determined from the results of the LCA that the sulphuric acid met its ‘green’ criteria and established a contract to purchase from Kennecott.
The business value:
- Competition and market access – as designers and manufacturers select materials for components and products, they are increasingly evaluating environmental attributes to avoid undue risks or costs and find materials that contribute to overall environmental, economic and social performance of a product. Kennecott used information about the life cycle environmental impacts of its sulphuric acid to establish a contract with a key customer that was actively evaluating the life cycle environmental performance of its own product.
- Market development – future markets will tend to favour materials with attributes that contribute to a product’s superior environmental, social and economic performance. Companies demonstrating how a material makes that contribution, during mining, manufacturing, use or disposal, will be better positioned for success in those markets
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
Principle 08:
Facilitate and encourage responsible product design, use, re-use, recycling and disposal of our products
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