Abstract
A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to evaluate the carbon footprint and resource efficiency of recycling straw waste into building materials. Three straw valorization pathways-straw resin-bonded particleboard (SRBP), straw cement-bonded particleboard (SCBP), and straw-based supplementary cementitious material (SCM)-were assessed and compared with the prevailing practice of straw open burning (SOB). Environmental and economic performance was evaluated in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, global warming potential (GWP), non-renewable energy consumption, resource expenditure, and cost-carbon synergy indices. The assessment adopts a dual-dimensional framework, combining horizontal comparison among straw management scenarios with vertical benchmarking against conventional wood-based particleboards. Methodological novelty is further achieved by integrating a cost-carbon synergy index with a one-million-iteration Monte Carlo simulation to jointly quantify economic-environmental performance and uncertainty, and by grounding the analysis in region-specific industrial data from Jilin Province to support policy-relevant conclusions. Results show that SCM exhibits the lowest carbon footprint (273.18 kg CO_2eq per ton of straw), whereas SOB produces the highest emissions (2834.80 kg CO_2eq/t). Relative to conventional wood-based boards, SRBP and SCBP reduce GHG emissions by 9.90 % and 4.53 %, respectively, while lowering non-renewable energy demand by up to 3.08 % and 14.88 %. SCM achieves the largest emission mitigation potential, with a unit abatement cost of 0.072 CNY per kg CO_2eq, substantially below representative social carbon cost thresholds, whereas SRBP and SCBP achieve positive cost-carbon synergy without direct fiscal support. Sensitivity analysis identifies transportation distance and molding electricity as dominant GWP drivers, and Monte Carlo simulation confirms the robustness of scenario ranking under parameter uncertainty. Overall, SRBP and SCBP offer economically viable pathways with synergistic emission reductions, while SCM provides substantial climate benefits through deep emission mitigation. These findings support targeted promotion of straw-based particleboards and the development of carbon- trading mechanisms for SCM, alongside logistics optimization and process-level emission reduction strategies.
NETL
NSTL
Elsevier