Nashrieh Shimi va Mohandesi Shimi Iran

Nashrieh Shimi va Mohandesi Shimi Iran

Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of Propane Cooling System in Providing Cooling for Heat Exchangers of Bidboland Persian Gulf Gas Refinery

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
1 Institute of Mining, Oil and Energy, Mahs. C., Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr,Iran
2 1Institute of Mining, Oil and Energy, Mahs. C. Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr,Iran
Abstract
The present study utilized three well-known life cycle assessment methods in SimaPro software to investigate the environmental impacts of the propane refrigeration cycle for supplying the required cooling for heat exchangers in the Bidboland Persian Gulf Gas Refining Company's export facilities and storage complex. The results obtained from IMPACT 2002+, CML baseline, and ReCiPe 2016 endpoint methods in the environmental impact assessment of the propane refrigeration cycle showed that in using the IMPACT 2002+ method, the categories of non-renewable energy depletion, respiratory effects due to minerals, and global warming had the greatest impact among the 15 effect categories related to the method, and in examining the effect of the cooling cycle on 4 groups of final damage, the most damage was related to damage to energy resources. The results of applying the CML baseline method in assessing the environmental impacts of the cooling cycle also showed that the highest impact categories were related to marine aquatic ecotoxicity, depletion of fossil resources, global warming, and acidification, respectively. The results regarding normalization and weighting in 22 impact categories using the ReCiPe method also showed that among the 22 impact categories, global warming (human health), human non-carcinogenic toxicity, global warming (terrestrial ecosystems), fossil fuel depletion, and particulate matter formation had the highest normalization indices, respectively. Additionally, the results of all three methods indicated that the most significant environmental aspect in the refrigeration cycle was identified as the propane gas consumed as a refrigerant.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 January 2026