Impact analysis of gold[sbnd]silver refining processes through life-cycle assessment

Abstract

Gold and silver are extracted through the gold-silver couple production process or the gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production process. This paper aims to analyse and compare the life-cycle assessment (LCA)of the gold and silver refining processes. Two production routes are considered in this study: gold and silver refining through the gold-silver couple production process and gold and silver refining which are produced from the gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper combined production process. SimaPro software version 8.5 is used for the life-cycle assessment using the International Life Cycle Reference Data (ILCD)method and the cumulative energy demand method (CED). The geographic region c..