Location: CA-QC - Canada, Québec
This dataset represents the production of high grade (SHG-Special High Grade) primary zinc by hydrometallurgical processes. Specific data were collected from the only producer in the Québec region, for the years 2011-2012.
Primary zinc is produced in the form of ingots and shot, respectively used as coating in steel work/die cast and for electroplating. About 25% of the produced zinc is in the form of an aluminium alloy.
The zinc concentrate, coming from all around the world (e.g. Canada (Québec and Ontario), Australia), is transported to the site by train or by ship and truck and mixed on site. The site is able to treate zinc concentrate contaminated with mercury and selenium but cannot recover silver and lead. Contrary to the GLO dataset, this dataset does not include waste contaning indium ("indium rich leaching residues, from zinc production" by-product flow).
Undefined unit processes (UPRs) are the unlinked, multi-product activity datasets that form the basis for all of the system models available in the ecoinvent database. This is the way the datasets are obtained and entered into the database by the data providers. These activity datasets are useful for investigating the environmental impacts of a specific activity (gate-to-gate), without regard to its upstream or downstream impacts.