Environmental Impact Assessment of Wood Pulp from a Eucalyptus Plantation in South China by Using Life-Cycle Analysis

This exploratory study evaluated the environmental impacts associated with Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft Pulp supplied from a eucalyptus plantation in South China by applying the life-cycle analysis approach. The system boundary was defined by a "cradle-to-gate" perspective including the forest subsystem and the pulp mill subsystem. Key processes were investigated and site-specific data were collected during 2009 and 2010 through field trips to a leading plantation operator and a representative pulp mill in China. Umberto 5.5 software was used to conduct a life-cycle inventory, which compiled all the inputs and outputs of the examined system. Hot-spot processes with high environmental burdens were identified with regard to selected impact categories of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, nonrenewable resources depletion, and human toxicity. According to the findings of this study, the forest subsystem showed significant contributions to the total environmental burdens in almost all impact categories, mainly due to the application of fertilizers in eucalyptus plantation management. The study discovered that while the pulp mill subsystem was the primary contributor to global warming impacts, the upstream processes of raw materials and energy production accounted for more than half of the impacts of acidification, human toxicity, and resources depletion. Therefore, eucalyptus plantation management and the supply of raw materials and energy in pulp mills in China are concluded to be concerns for future development. These findings may help the Chinese forest industry and pulp industry achieve better environmental performance toward sustainable development.