1. The Life Cycle Assessment of Cyanide Containers in Ghana
Authors: Deborah Engelbrecht and Kevin Mearns
Presenter: Kevin Mearns

2. Aim To assess the life cycle (‘cradle to grave’) of Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) of Sodium Cyanide, as used by the Gold Mining Sector in Ghana
Cyanide is toxic chemical imported into Ghana
No legislation for disposal, reuse, recycling of IBCs and the associated liners in Ghana
Disposed of by
Incineration
Returned to country of origin
Extreme cases – building material

3. Objectives determine the origin of the IBC;
quantify the number of IBCs imported to Ghana annually;
evaluate methods of disposal of the IBC and its liners and the effect thereof on the environment;
identify which category in terms of human health, ecosystem quality and resources is impacted on the most by the different life cycles;
ascertain whether transportation within Ghana has a noteworthy effect on the environment.

4. Methodology
Case study based on ISO method recommended for life cycle assessments (Figure 4)
Data collection by means of
Desktop study
Questionnaires
Interviews
Observations
Fieldwork
Data analysis
Qualitative
Quantitative
Simapro 7.1 awarded by Pré-Consultants used to process the data

5. Goal and scope definition
The goal and scope is to assess the life cycle IBCs of sodium cyanide, as used by the gold mining sector in Ghana.
Inventory analysis
Eco-indicator method in Simapro 7.1 generated inventory lists in terms of (example in Table 1)
raw material used
emissions to soil
emissions to water
emissions to air
Substance emitted into water
Unit
IBC reused
IBC incinerated
Polyethylene liner incinerated
Polypropylene liner incinerated
Arsenic, ion kg
5.24 x 103
1.78 x 104
1.96 x 103
3.65 x 103
Cadmium, ion
2.42 x 102
8.20 x 102
3.84 x 102
6.91 x 102
Cesium-137
kBq
2.25 x 107
7.68 x 107
4.89 x 106
1.21 x 107

6. Impact Assessment Impact categories selected by software Human health
Ecosystem quality
Resources
Elements included
categorisation
classification
characterisation (Figure 5)
normalisation (Figure 6)
damage assessment (Figure 7)
impact assessment (Figure 8)

7. Interpretation
Identification of most important issues (Figure 9) most important are highlighted in red and least important are in yellow)
Most noteworthy life cycle – ranked in order
incinerated IBC
polypropylene liner
reused IBC
polyethylene liner
Completeness, Sensitivity and Consistency check
Incineration and transportation cannot be quantified accurately as models were generated for use in Europe
Assumptions, methods and data were consistent with goal and scope of LCA

8. Conclusions Objective 1 IBC and liners originate outside of Ghana
Quantities differ each year as the cyanide use varies according to the gold produced.
The IBC is returned to the supplier or reuse, incineration of IBC and all liners results in emissions into the atmosphere, combustion of fuel used for transportation releases toxicants into the atmosphere.
The life cycles are arranged in order of magnitude
IBC Incinerated
Polyethylene liner
Reused IBC
The main emissions as identified in this study were those resulting from transportation

9. Acknowledgements References
Pre-Consultants for awarding the use of Simapro 7.1
National Research Foundation for funding
Kevin Mearns for the presenting of the poster
References
DEAT, (2004): Life Cycle Assessment, Integrated Environmental Management, Information Series 9, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), Pretoria.