A review on life cycle assessment of different pipeline materials

• Published in: Results in engineering 2023-09, Vol.19, p.101325, Article 101325
• Main Authors: Chohan, Imran Mir, Ahmad, Azlan, Sallih, Nabihah, Bheel, Naraindas, Ali, Mohsin, Deifalla, Ahmed Farouk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Environmental impact; Infrastructure; Life cycle impact assessment; Pipeline materials; Sustainability
• ISSN: 2590-1230; 2590-1230
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2023.101325

Environmentally sustainable development needs techniques and tools to quantify and compare human activities environmental impacts for numerous products and services. However, providing products and services to society contributes to a variety of environmental consequences commonly known as environmental impacts. The environmental impact involves the consumption of resources, emissions into the environment, and other interventions like land use, ecotoxicity, etc. To develop environmentally conscious pipeline projects or infrastructure, the environmental impacts of its entire service life must be known. Besides, the life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most advanced tool for assessing the environmental impacts of the entire life of any product or service. The aim of this study is to review the environmental impact of different pipeline networks with different materials on which LCA has been performed. In order to see which phases of the life cycle of pipeline networks and which pipeline materials have higher energy consumption and have major environmental impacts. It has been noticed that the use/operational phase contributes the most to global warming potential (GWP) and has the greatest amount of energy consumption, which is concerning and cannot be overlooked. Now there is a need for some alternative approaches to pipeline networks for a sustainable future. •Life cycle assessment is the most advanced tool for assessing environmental impacts.•Environmental impacts of pipeline projects must be taken into account.•Pipeline materials and phases have higher energy consumption and environmental impacts.•Use/operational phase contributes most to Global warming Potential and energy consumption.•Alternative approaches to pipeline networks needed for sustainable future.