ArcelorMittalEnLife Cycle Assessment of a quay wall – new brochure

Life Cycle Assessment of a quay wall – new brochure

In civil engineering, the environmental impact will be one of the key factors when selecting the most durable solution to be built. Conscious of the challenge that the whole industry is facing to reduce its carbon footprint, ArcelorMittal is looking into the eco-design of its current product range of steel sheet piles. The first step consisted in the analysis of the current situation in port structures. ArcelorMittal assigned in 2019 a Belgian engineering firm to design and compare the technical and financial aspects of three different alternatives to build a 200 meter long quay wall for a new cruise ship terminal in a port in Belgium. The outcome of this study will be released shortly.

The technical analysis served as the basis for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the two more cost-effective structures: a sheet pile retaining wall and a diaphragm wall. All the main elements contributing to the environmental impact were analysed, using published Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). The LCA was made by ArcelorMittal and peer-reviewed by an independent panel of three experts.

The conclusion is that for the base scenario of this specific case study, the carbon footprint, expressed as the Global Warming Potential (GWP), of the steel solution is 44 % lower compared to the diaphragm wall, which corresponds to a saving of 559 tonnes of CO2-eq.

The first step to improve the eco-design of steel sheet piles is to use renewable energy in the secondary production route (Electric Arc Furnace), thus reducing by around 30 % the GWP (based on the EPD EcoSheetPile™ Plus).

LCA of a quay wall of a cruise ship terminal in Belgium
LCA of a quay wall of a cruise ship terminal in Belgium


You will find the detailed analysis in the brochure that you can download below. Read more details on the sustainability of steel sheet pile on the dedicated webpage (see link below).
Last modified: October 25, 2021

Date publish: October 25, 2021
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