Life Cycle Assessment Applied to End-of-Life Scenarios of Sargassum spp. for Application in Civil Construction

Environmental risks and vulnerabilities in coastal regions include the massive deposits of brown algae of the genus Sargassum in regions such as the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and northern Brazil. Efforts have been made to turn this problem into an opportunity by seeking new uses for this biomass in the sectors of food, agriculture, health, biofuels, bioremediation, and civil construction. Thus, this study aimed to produce quantitative data for different end-of-life scenarios of the Sargassum algae, seeking for potential applications of this macroalgae in the civil construction sector. For this purpose, we conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of the Sargassum algae, in its natural destination, and evaluated its potential impact. This evaluation was then compared to the possible impacts of alternatives to their end of life, such as landfill disposal, drying and grinding to use as fibers or particles, burning the biomass to generate energy and fly ash, using a consequential LCA and the indicators of the ReCiPe 2016 method. For each of the proposed scenarios, the functional unit of 1 kg of the three types of unprocessed Sargassum algae that are found in the Brazilian deposits (natans I, natans VIII, and fluitans) was considered separately, and also for a composition that is closer to that found in the Brazilian deposits (50% fluitans, 15% natans I, and 35% natans VIII). The results for both natural decomposition scenarios demonstrated a dominant contribution to the categories of impact for climate change, marine eutrophication, and land use, thus justifying the search for new initiatives for the use of the algae. The burning process showed a significant contribution to most of the indicators, with emphasis on the massive generation of particulate, inherent to the biomass burning process; however, it showed a reduction in the magnitude of climate change emissions from around 47% to less than 2%. Finally, the proposed scenario of processing Sargassum biomass to obtain particles presented prevalence of magnitude for potential impact in most of the proposed indicators, due to the processes with high electricity consumption, but keeping climate change emissions' relative reduction from 47% to 6%. Thus, new studies may further investigate the potential of application of these materials in different products and components of civil construction.

Automated summary

Environmental risks and vulnerabilities in coastal regions include the massive deposits of brown algae of the genus Sargassum in regions such as the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and northern Brazil. Efforts have been made to turn this problem into an opportunity by seeking new uses for this biomass in various sectors. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted to evaluate the potential impact and compare different end-of-life scenarios for the Sargassum algae, including landfill disposal, drying and grinding, burning for energy, and processing into particles. The results highlight the need for new initiatives to utilize the algae in a more sustainable way, with the burning process showing a reduction in climate change emissions.