A cradle to gate life cycle assessment of Turkish lignite used for electricity generation with site-specific data Hatice S ¸ engül a, * , Ferda Bayrak a , Merih Aydınalp K € oksal a , Bahtiyar Ünver b a Department of Environmental Engineering, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, 06800 Ankara, Turkey b Department of Mining Engineering, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, 06800 Ankara, Turkey article info Article history: Received 25 July 2014 Received in revised form 5 April 2016 Accepted 6 April 2016 Available online 14 April 2016 Keywords: Life cycle assessment Environmental impacts of lignite mining Electricity generation Land use potential abstract Coal, a major source for electricity generation in many regions, is expected to keep its position among global energy sources in the next two decades. There are significant life cycle impacts of coal used for electricity generation such as heavy metal emissions and acidification. Impacts related to the combustion phase have so far been the focus of attention and are better documented than other phases of the life cycle. Relatively less attention has been paid to impacts of mining and coal preparation processes at mining sites due to generation of large quantities of wastewater, particulate matter and heavy metal emissions, and the use of heavy machinery which is energy-intensive. To this date, there are only a few studies specifically addressing impacts associated with the mining and coal preparation phases in the open literature. To further advance our understanding of the scale of impacts during these phases, this paper presents a life cycle assessment of lignite from extraction phase to the delivery to the power plant based on analysis of high quality data from twelve lignite mining sites that serve major lignite power plants in Turkey. For impacts on land use, four indicators which include erosion resistance, mechanical filtration, groundwater replenishment loss and biotic production, are estimated. Following life cycle impact assessment, two environmental performance improvement alternatives that can be easily implemented in mining sites are evaluated to quantify the potential degree of improvement. These al- ternatives include dewatering of the slurry waste and recovery of coal, and using biodiesel mixed fuel and watering roads to reduce dust formation. The analyses show that 40% improvement can be realized for ecotoxicity potential to water category through simple changes in mining practices. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Due to global distribution of vast amounts of coal reserves, coal price stability, public opposition to nuclear energy and its high capital cost, and deployment barriers of renewable energy sources; coal is an attractive option for electricity generation. According to the International Energy Outlook 2013 report, in 2010 coal-fired electricity generation accounted for 40% of overall worldwide electricity generation and in 2040, its share is predicted to remain high at 36% (EIA, 2013). Approximately a quarter of electricity in Turkey is generated at coal-fired power plants, and this has been the case for almost a decade. As of 2013, 44% of electricity was generated at imported natural gas-fueled power plants, 25% at hydro power plants,14% at imported hard coal fueled power plants, 13% at local lignite fueled power plants, and remaining 4% was generated at geothermal and wind power plants. The installed capacity of the lignite fueled po- wer plants was 8086 MW in 2013. With the discovery of new lignite reserves between 2005 and 2009, which doubled the previous lignite reserve estimate for Turkey, 15 more lignite-fueled power plants with a total installed capacity of 16,600 MW are expected to be built in the near future (EUAS, 2013). Fig. 1 shows the locations of the current and planned lignite-fueled power plants in Turkey, and Table 1 presents the installed capacities of the current and planned lignite-fueled power plants. In Turkey, the majority of coal basins are of tectonically disturbed nature and have a lot of folding and faulting. Hence, application of modern mining methods is restricted. Due to low * Corresponding author. E-mail address: hatice.sengul@hacettepe.edu.tr (H. S ¸ engül). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.025 0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 478e490