Evaluation of refractory brick production through life cycle assessment and life cycle cost methods

In this study, it was aimed to make an environmental and economic assessment of refractory brick production process by using LCA and LCC method together since refractory production is quite energy intensive sector due to drying and firing processes. Fort this purpose, firstly, a refractory plant in Turkey was chosen and one ton magnesite spinel refractory brick was selected as functional unit. CML IA method included in licensed SimaPro 8.0.1 software was employed for the assessment from the perspectives of impact categories. LCC analysis was carried out creating to a new economic method for internal cost (i.e. energy, materials, transport) and external cost (i.e.environmental) categories by using the same software. As a result, according to obtained data, environmental performance of refractory plant can be improved by reusing or recycling the materials and reducing energy consumption. Beside this, for the determination of refractory brick production sustainability strategies, external costs should be considered together with the internal costs.