Prior knowledge of the data on the production capacity of boron facilities in Turkey

Abstract

The element boron is widely used in many industrial fields (semiconductor industry, glass industry, etc.). In order to assess the environmental impact of industrial products containing boron from cradle to grave, it is necessary to consider the impact of borate minerals on the environment. The literature on this subject is quite poor and the inventory of data on the life cycle of boron mining is very scarce. This article presents a synthesis of a literature review on this topic and provides easy access to important data on boron use and production capacities of Turkish boron facilities. The scope of Turkey has been chosen because the country has the largest deposits of borate ores in the world. The literature review is based on the analysis of sixty-three theses and fourteen reports in the fields of mining engineering, geology and earth sciences, environmental sciences, and chemical engineering. The production capacities from 1985 to 2016 (most recent data) and supporting data for each facility were studied using bibliometrics analysis. The data were then evaluated by calculating a data quality matrix, the coefficient of dispersion, and the standard deviations. We have found that the data compiled is generally of good quality. The values of the production capacities ±2.3 tons have 95% chance to be the real values of the production capacities of the boron industry in Turkey. The data obtained constitute a basis for enriching models in the field of life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainability, and/or material flow analysis (MFA) applied to borate mineral processing.