Life cycle thinking to select contaminated land remediation technologies

Environmental sustainability of contaminated land remediation is a major challenge besides financial and legal aspects. The choice of remediation technologies should consider a potential shift of problems from today to the... [ view full abstract ]

Environmental sustainability of contaminated land remediation is a major challenge besides financial and legal aspects. The choice of remediation technologies should consider a potential shift of problems from today to the future as well as from one place to another one.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) models provide a quantitative understanding of remediation technologies and systems over their entire life cycle. LCA modelling is performed according to the rules of the International Reference Life Cycle Data System and in line with international standards (ISO14040 and 14044, 2006). These models are useful to look beyond the contaminated sites and to detect unexpected effects caused by remediation activities.
This paper presents the efforts towards a generic approach to investigate the environmental sustainability of alternative contaminated land remediation technologies and systems. The ultimate goal is to develop a tool to support the decision making process, considering and benefiting from life cycle thinking.
This research work is being carried out as part of an Innovative Training Network (ITN), the REMEDIATE project, that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 643087.