Method for calculating average carbon emissions of a recyclable material over its entire life cycle

Abstract

This invention relates to a method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials, comprising the following steps: determining the net number of cycles of the recyclable material based on its regeneration rate; calculating the carbon emissions generated per cycle of use and summing them to obtain the total carbon emissions; and calculating the average carbon emissions per unit mass by dividing the total carbon emissions by the total usable mass of the recyclable material. This calculation method represents the average carbon emissions per unit mass of recyclable material after multiple cycles until it is completely depleted. It spans multiple cycles including material production, processing, use, recycling, regeneration, reprocessing, and further recycling. This invention can accurately assess the average carbon emissions of materials, contributing to the full recycling and reuse of recyclable materials. It has macro-statistical significance and can provide a reference for industrial policy formulation and macro-level research.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of carbon emission calculation, and specifically to a method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of a recyclable material. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, my country's system for calculating the carbon footprint of products is not yet perfect. In particular, there is a lack of unified standards for calculating carbon emissions when considering the recycling and reuse of recyclable materials. For example, the "Building Carbon Emission Calculation Standard" GBT 51366-2019 in the construction field only provides an approximate method to consider the recycling and reuse of materials, lacking theoretical models and derivation processes, which is not conducive to the recycling of renewable materials.

[0003] GB / T51366-2019, "Standard for Calculating Carbon Emissions from Buildings," states in section 6.25: "When low-value waste is used as raw material in the production of building materials, the carbon emissions from its upstream processes can be ignored. When other recycled raw materials are used, the carbon emissions should be calculated at 50% of the carbon emissions from the primary raw materials it replaces; renewable building waste generated during the construction and demolition phases can be calculated at 50% of the carbon emissions from the primary raw materials it replaces, and should be deducted from building carbon emissions." This description can be converted into the following formula:

[0004]

[0005] In Equation 1, E v E represents the carbon emission factor of primary materials. d Let R represent the carbon emission factor of waste disposal, c represent the proportion of recycled components in the current material production process, p represent the proportion of the mass of material used for recycling after the current material's usage cycle ends, and r represent the proportion of the mass of recycled components obtained after the current material's usage cycle ends to the total mass of the current material, i.e., r = pc.

[0006] The above formula 1 lacks input for carbon emissions in the regeneration stage, the accounting boundary is incomplete, and the physical meaning of the coefficient 1 / 2 in the formula is not clearly defined, which imposes certain limitations on its use and promotion.

[0007] Taking steel and aluminum, commonly used materials in construction, as examples, the carbon emissions of virgin steel are lower than those of aluminum. The average carbon emissions of steel, calculated using Equation 1, are lower than those of aluminum. Based on this result, industrial policy should guide the use of steel extensively and avoid the use of aluminum. However, in actual recycling, it has been found that the recycling loss of steel is higher than that of aluminum, and the carbon emissions during steel recycling are higher than those of aluminum. Because Equation 1 does not consider carbon emissions during the recycling stage, the calculation of carbon emissions is not accurate enough and cannot provide guidance for industrial policy and research. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide a method for calculating the average carbon emissions of recyclable materials throughout their entire life cycle. This method addresses the problems in existing carbon emission calculation standards, such as the lack of input for carbon emissions during the recycling stage, incomplete accounting boundaries, and insufficient accuracy in calculations. These problems restrict the use and promotion of recycled materials and make it difficult to provide guidance for industrial policies and research.

[0009] The technical solution to achieve the above objectives is:

[0010] This invention provides a method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials, comprising the following steps:

[0011] The net number of cycles of a recyclable material is determined based on its regeneration rate.

[0012] The carbon emissions generated per cycle of the recyclable material are calculated, and the total carbon emissions are summed to obtain the total carbon emissions. The formula for calculating the total carbon emissions is as follows:

[0013]

[0014] In the above formula, ∑E n This represents the total carbon emissions after n net cycles of a recyclable material.

[0015] m represents the mass of virgin material added to the first cycle of the recyclable material.

[0016] E v Indicates the carbon emission factor of the primary material.

[0017] E d Indicates the carbon emission factor of waste disposal.

[0018] r represents the ratio of the mass of the component obtained from recycling after the current material's usage cycle to the total mass of the current material, i.e., r = pc.

[0019] p represents the proportion of the total material mass that was recycled after the current material usage cycle ended.

[0020] c represents the input-output ratio of the material recycling process.

[0021] q represents the ratio of carbon emissions generated from the same amount of regeneration to the carbon emissions from the initial production.

[0022] The average carbon emissions per unit mass are calculated by dividing the total carbon emissions by the total usable mass of recyclable materials. The formula for calculating the average carbon emissions per unit mass is as follows:

[0023] E 均 =E v(1-r+rq)+(1-p)E d .

[0024] The calculation method of this invention represents the average carbon emissions per unit mass of recyclable materials after multiple cycles until they are completely lost. It is an average level that spans multiple cycles such as material production, processing, use, recycling, regeneration, reprocessing, and re-recycling. This invention can accurately assess the average carbon emissions of materials, which helps to promote the full recycling and reuse of renewable materials. It has macro-statistical significance and can provide a reference for industrial policy formulation and macro-research.

[0025] A further improvement to the method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials in this invention lies in the process of solving for the net number of cycles of the recyclable material as follows:

[0026] The total usable mass of recyclable materials can be expressed as:

[0027]

[0028] When the actual number of iterations n is infinite, we have

[0029] The net number of cycles can be expressed as:

[0030] A further improvement to the method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials in this invention lies in the fact that the calculation process for the total carbon emissions is as follows:

[0031] If the carbon emissions from each production input are positively correlated with the mass of material obtained from each regeneration, then: E1 = mE v E2=rmqE v E3 = mr 2 qE v E n =mr n-1 qE v ;

[0032] Total carbon emissions can be expressed as:

[0033]

[0034] When n takes the value of infinity, we can obtain

[0035] A further improvement to the method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials in this invention is that the carbon emission factors for producing recyclable materials and the carbon emission factors for waste disposal are obtained through actual measurements.

[0036] A further improvement to the method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials in this invention is that the carbon emission factors for producing recyclable materials and the carbon emission factors for waste disposal are calculated using energy input.

[0037] A further improvement of the method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials in this invention is that the carbon emissions generated by each cycle of the recyclable material include the carbon emissions generated by producing the recyclable material and the carbon emissions generated by disposing of waste recyclable materials. Detailed Implementation

[0038] The present invention will be further described below with reference to specific embodiments.

[0039] This invention provides a method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials. This method, belonging to the cycle number method, represents the average carbon emissions per unit mass of material after undergoing multiple cycles until all previously used material is lost. It spans multiple cycles including material production, processing, use, recycling, regeneration, reprocessing, and further recycling, and has macro-level statistical significance, providing a reference for industrial policy formulation and macro-level research. The method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials according to this invention is explained below.

[0040] The present invention provides a method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of a recyclable material, comprising the following steps:

[0041] The net number of cycles of a recyclable material is determined based on its regeneration rate.

[0042] The carbon emissions generated by each cycle of recyclable materials are calculated, and the total carbon emissions are summed to obtain the total carbon emissions. The formula for calculating the total carbon emissions is as follows:

[0043]

[0044] In the above formula, ∑E n This represents the total carbon emissions after n net cycles of a recyclable material.

[0045] m represents the mass of virgin material added to the first cycle of the recyclable material.

[0046] E v Indicates the carbon emission factor of the primary material.

[0047] E d Indicates the carbon emission factor of waste disposal.

[0048] r represents the ratio of the mass of the component obtained from recycling after the current material's usage cycle to the total mass of the current material, i.e., r = pc.

[0049] p represents the proportion of the total material mass that was recycled after the current material usage cycle ended.

[0050] c represents the input-output ratio of the material recycling process.

[0051] q represents the ratio of carbon emissions generated from the same amount of regeneration to the carbon emissions from the initial production;

[0052] The average carbon emissions per unit mass are calculated by dividing the total carbon emissions by the total usable mass of recyclable materials. The formula for calculating the average carbon emissions per unit mass is as follows:

[0053] E 均 =E v (1-r+rq)+(1-p)E d .

[0054] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, assuming that a certain material is produced and its recycling rate is r, and no new virgin material is added when the material is used for the second time, that is, the material is infinitely recycled until it is completely lost after multiple cycles, its total emissions and total usable mass can be calculated, and the average emissions per unit mass can be obtained from this.

[0055] Specifically, the process of determining the net number of cycles for a recyclable material is as follows:

[0056] The total usable mass of recyclable materials can be expressed as:

[0057]

[0058] When the actual number of iterations n is infinite, the limit is:

[0059] The net number of cycles can be expressed as: Where m is the mass of the recyclable material produced in the first batch.

[0060] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the calculation process for total carbon emissions is as follows:

[0061] If the carbon emissions from each production input are positively correlated with the mass of material obtained from each regeneration, then: E1 = mE v E2=rmqE v E3 = mr 2 qE v E n =mr n-1 qE v ;

[0062] Total carbon emissions can be expressed as:

[0063]

[0064] When n takes the value of infinity, the limit is:

[0065] E v The carbon emission factor of primary recyclable materials per unit mass of production is also known as the carbon emission factor of primary materials.

[0066] E d The carbon emission factor for waste disposal is the carbon emission per unit mass of recyclable materials processed.

[0067] E R It represents the carbon emissions required to recycle a unit mass of recyclable material, including the total carbon emissions generated from waste material treatment, transportation, smelting, and processing.

[0068] R represents the proportion of recycled components in the material production process;

[0069] c represents the input-output ratio of the material recycling process;

[0070] p represents the proportion of the material mass used for recycling after the current material usage cycle ends, which is the material recycling rate.

[0071] r represents the ratio of the mass of the component obtained from recycling after the current material usage cycle to the total amount of the current material, i.e., the material recycling rate, r = pc;

[0072] q represents the ratio of carbon emissions from recycled materials to carbon emissions from original new materials of the same mass, qE v =E R ;

[0073] In the formula, p, c, and r all take values ​​in the range [0-1].

[0074] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the process of calculating the average carbon emissions per unit mass is as follows:

[0075]

[0076] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the carbon emission factor for producing recyclable materials and the carbon emission factor for waste disposal are obtained through actual measurement.

[0077] Specifically, the carbon emission factor for producing recyclable materials is obtained by measuring the total amount of carbon dioxide generated throughout the entire process of producing recyclable materials and then dividing it by the mass of the recyclable materials produced. Waste gas treatment refers to the recycling of used recyclable materials back into production raw materials. The carbon emission factor for waste treatment is obtained by measuring the total amount of carbon dioxide generated throughout the entire waste treatment process and then dividing it by the mass of the waste materials treated. The entire waste treatment process includes waste material processing, transportation, and smelting.

[0078] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the carbon emission factor for producing recyclable materials and the carbon emission factor for waste disposal are obtained by measuring energy input.

[0079] Specifically, carbon emissions are calculated based on energy inputs, such as converting the consumption of coal, electricity, and oil into carbon emissions.

[0080] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, the carbon emissions generated by each recycling of recyclable materials include the carbon emissions generated by producing recyclable materials and the carbon emissions generated by disposing of waste recyclable materials.

[0081] The calculation method of this invention has macro-statistical significance and can provide a reference for industrial policy formulation and macro-level research. For example, some materials have relatively low emissions during initial production but poor recycling capacity and high recycling losses, while some materials have relatively high emissions during initial production but strong recycling capacity and low recycling losses. If carbon emissions are calculated solely based on the proportion of recycled components in the initial composition of the material, the emissions may vary depending on the proportion of recycled components in different batches, resulting in fluctuating emissions and failing to effectively express the beneficial impact of strong material recycling capacity on reducing carbon emissions. From a usage perspective, it can calculate the total emissions resulting from meeting all material needs for production and daily life within a certain period. Taking aluminum cans as an example, the two most commonly used main materials are steel and aluminum. The emissions from virgin steel are lower than those from aluminum, but the recycling losses of steel are higher than those of aluminum. Considering that aluminum has a lower density than steel, and based on the current average application level of recycled materials in my country, the emissions of steel structures are slightly lower than those of aluminum structures when calculated using the recycled material composition method. However, when considering recycling, it can be calculated that the total number of cans required to meet specific market demands within a certain period using aluminum results in lower total carbon emissions than using steel. The cycle count method can accurately assess the degree to which aluminum reduces carbon emission intensity compared to steel.

[0082] The above embodiments have provided a detailed description of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications to the present invention based on the above description. Therefore, certain details in the embodiments should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and the scope of protection of the present invention shall be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of a recyclable material, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: The net number of cycles of a recyclable material is determined based on its regeneration rate. The carbon emissions generated per cycle of the recyclable material are calculated, and the total carbon emissions are summed to obtain the total carbon emissions. The formula for calculating the total carbon emissions is as follows: ， In the above formula, This represents the total carbon emissions after n net cycles of a recyclable material. m represents the mass of virgin material added to the first cycle of the recyclable material. E v Indicates the carbon emission factor of the primary material. E d Indicates the carbon emission factor of waste disposal. r represents the ratio of the mass of the component obtained from recycling after the current material's usage cycle to the total mass of the current material, i.e., r = pc. p represents the proportion of the total material mass that was recycled after the current material usage cycle ended. c represents the input-output ratio of the material recycling process. q represents the ratio of carbon emissions generated from the same amount of regeneration to the carbon emissions from the initial production. The average carbon emissions per unit mass are calculated by dividing the total carbon emissions by the total usable mass of recyclable materials. The formula for calculating the average carbon emissions per unit mass is as follows: ； The process of determining the net number of cycles for a recyclable material is as follows: The total available mass of recyclable materials is expressed as: ； When the actual number of iterations n is infinite, we have ; The net number of cycles is expressed as: .

2. The method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The calculation process for total carbon emissions is as follows: If the carbon emissions from each production input are positively correlated with the quality of materials obtained from each recycling, then: ； Total carbon emissions are expressed as: ； When n takes the value of infinity, we get .

3. The method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The carbon emission factors for producing recyclable materials and for waste disposal were obtained through actual measurements.

4. The method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The carbon emission factors for producing recyclable materials and for waste disposal are calculated using energy input.

5. The method for calculating the average carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of recyclable materials as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The carbon emissions generated by each recycling of the recyclable material include the carbon emissions generated from the production of the recyclable material and the carbon emissions generated from the disposal of waste recyclable material.

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