Characterization and normalization factors of abiotic resource depletion for life cycle impact assessment in China

The availability of resources for economic activities differs between regions, and the importance of the resources is consequently observed to be different within regions compared to a global scale. With the current situation in Chinese mining industry and its statistic characteristics, the characterization procedures of abiotic resource in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) have demonstrated certain limitations in the Chinese materials industry. The aim of this paper is to propose new characterization and normalization factors for abiotic resource depletion categories such as metals and non-renewable energy resources in a Chinese context. The actual production of abiotic resources calculated by a modified model is compared to the reserve base in line with the new national standard to determine characterization factors in equivalence units, with antimony as the reference mineral. The normalization factors are based on the total base reserves of the most important minerals in China. A case study on primary magnesium production using the Pidgeon process is used to compare LCIA results for abiotic resource categories that are between current LCIA factors and the new Chinese factors. These factors not only reflect the importance of abiotic resource with respect to region-specific resource depletion, but also can compare with the global factors.