Environmental impacts, life cycle assessment and potential improvement measures for cement production: a literature review

Cement constitutes one of the primary building materials. As cement manufacturing involves the use of large amounts of raw materials and energy, an issue that arises is the necessity to assess its environmental impact and analyze in which way the industry should proceed concerning best practices. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has frequently been used in case studies around the globe as an environmental impact assessing tool. The present literature review serves for: (i) describing the environmental impacts, (ii) clarifying the methodological approaches in LCA, and (iii) identifying the main alternatives to improve the environmental performance of cement production. Several available studies on the environmental performance of manufacture and use of cement products were reviewed. These studies identified improvement of energy efficiency, the use of alternative fuels, clinker substitution, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the main solutions for mitigating environmental impacts caused by cement production. The first three options have been thoroughly analyzed, applied, and have shown improvement through the years. CCS has a high improvement potential; however, it presents technical and economic barriers to its implementation. •Environmental impacts of cement production are reviewed.•Methodological choices vary among LCA studies.•Main alternatives for mitigation were identified.•Mitigation: energy efficiency, alternative fuels, clinker substitution, CCS.