Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, cilt.27, sa.11, ss.6639-6658, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
One promising technique for enhancing sustainability in the textile sector is the use of the evaporative caustic soda recovery method, which replaces traditional end-of-pipe treatment for managing the highly alkaline wastewater, known as 'weak lye,' from mercerization. This study performed a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and economic evaluation of the mercerization with evaporative recovery, comparing it to traditional mercerization with the end-of-pipe treatment of weak lye. The results indicate that in both cases, the primary environmental impacts are in the human health category, and the evaporative recovery provides a notable 22% reduction in human health impacts, attributable to the combined positive effects of caustic recovery and the negative effects of increased electricity consumption. A sensitivity analysis of the impact of different energy sources on human health was conducted using four electricity mixes (Turkish Energy Mix, EU RER, EU Grid Mix, and wind). The results demonstrate that the choice of energy source significantly influences human health impacts, with the potential to achieve nearly a 100% reduction in these impacts when evaporative recovery is adopted. Furthermore, an economic comparison showed that evaporative caustic soda recovery offers a significantly lower unit total cost and superior cost-effectiveness, ranging from − 1.82 to − 0.37 €/ton of weak lye processed, compared to the 2.63 €/ton cost of traditional end-of-pipe treatment. These findings highlight the effectiveness of adopting evaporative caustic soda recovery as an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective solution for the textile industry.