Authors
Dong, Yahong; Zhao, Yating; Liu, Peng
Abstract
Rubber hoses have been widely adopted for pumping ready-mixed concrete on construction site. The service life of a rubber hose can be considerably influenced by wear resistance. In our laboratory study, high wear-resistant (HWR) rubber hoses were designed and recently the HWR rubber hoses has been put into production in factories. The high wear-resistant rubber hose can pump 20,000 cubic meters of concrete, which is significantly larger than a traditional rubber hose (14,500 cubic meters pumping capacity). In order to compare the environmental and economic performance of rubber hoses, this study conducts life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCC) for two types of rubber hoses, namely HWR rubber hoses and traditional rubber hoses. The “cradle-to-grave” life cycle stages are considered, including production, transportation, use and end-of-life stages. First-hand data are collected from the factories and laboratory. The models are established in SimaPro and the impact assessment results are provided using both midpoint and endpoint approaches. It is found that the HWR rubber hoses are more environmental-friendly than the traditional hoses. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the environmental impacts of rubber hose can be significantly affected by fuel consumption, steel wire, etc. The life cycle costing analysis shows that the costs of HWR rubber hoses are only 90% of the traditional rubber hoses. The findings of this study can contribute to improve knowledge of environmental impacts of rubber hoses and promote the eco-design of rubber hose in future.