Serving the circular economy with the Life Cycle Assessment of our stripping units

Aware of the role that the Group must play to minimize the environmental impact of its equipment and solutions, John Cockerill has initiated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies to support its eco-design approach.

A LCA is the most advanced standardized method for global and multi-criteria evaluation. This tool to quantitatively or qualitatively assess the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle, is essentialfor our Group’s sustainable design approach.

The LCA conducted on our stripping units for the recovery of ammonia, will not only allow to simplify their design, but also to lower their environmental impact, with regard to the raw materials used, production, or transportation. And, the LCA also made it possible to concretely the measure the effectiveness of our process.

Contributing to the circularity of nitrogen, our AyraVal™ Ammonia stripping units considerably reduce the nitrogen load of industrial or municipal wastewater treatment plants. The nitrogen is recovered in the form of ammonium sulfate which can be used as fertilizer in agriculture. Our stripping units make these treatment plants less polluting (N2O release), less energy consuming and therefore more efficient. Compared to the spreading of organic fertilizers, the higher concentration of ammonium sulfate facilitates both its storage and transport and allows a precise application without odor nuisance. Our nitrogen stripping installations thus contribute to reducing groundwater pollution and the nutritional overload of soils.

Finally, conducting the LCA made it possible to measure the quantifiable effects of our stripping units on the environment and to demonstrate the superior efficiency of our AyraVal™ Ammonia design throughout its use. Thus, our low pH installations consume 20% less soda ash than other solutions on the market. In addition to being a significant financial saving for our clients, this low consumption of reagents reduces harmful effects on the environment.

Minimizing the environmental impact of its products and innovations is one of the missions for John Cockerill.