Évaluation comparée de l’impact environnemental des traverses de chemin de fer en bois et en béton utilisées au cameroun

Abstract

This thesis deals with the comparative assessment of the environmental impact of wood and concrete railroad ties used in Cameroon. This comparison was performed by life cycle analysis of each railroad from the resource extraction to end life using the software “Bilan Produit”. So, the properties of different railroads materials investigated were including the transport of raw materials to the production sites, followed the utilization sites. We have equally taken into account the impact of components like petrol to start certain engines and electricity to start others. We considered also materials used in the production of each ties and fixation of this ties at the utilization site. The pollution impacts of each railroad ties on the environment in Cameroon were evaluated. It appears that, in all the phases accounted by the software “Bilan Produit”, the transport phase was the one producing the most of pollution, followed by production. The pollution impacts caused by the concrete ties was higher than those of wood ties in all the phase investigated: 2.67 times greater for transport, 10.65 times greater in the production phase and 3.54 times greater in the utilization phase