Life cycle and environmental impact assessment of coal-fired power plants in Bangladesh

• Investigate the environmental impact of coal-fired power plants in Bangladesh. • Utilizing a cradle-to-gate approach with OpenLCA software. • Comparative analysis among promising methods as ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H), CML-IA baseline, ILCD 2011 Midpoint+. • The evaluation demonstrates coal technologies can slow down environmental deterioration. Coal power plants account for about 38 % of global electricity but with an enormous environmental footprint, including greenhouse gas emission and resource depletion. In this study, a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of three major coal-fired power plants of Bangladesh—Barapukuria (subcritical), Rampal (supercritical), and Payra (ultra-supercritical)—is conducted using OpenLCA software and methodology like ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H), CML-IA baseline, and ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ to evaluate resource use, emissions, and impacts. Fossil fuel combustion dominates CO 2 emissions (90.24–93.95 %), whose global warming potentials in Monte Carlo simulations are 765.80–767.01 kg CO 2 eq/MWh (Barapukuria), 826.07–827.76 (Rampal), and 841.37–843.18 (Payra). Highly efficient plants have larger freshwater ecotoxicity and water use impacts despite efficiency gains. LCA’s ability to measure footprints and enable mitigation like carbon capture and efficiency gain is aptly demonstrated by these findings, leading Bangladesh towards policy for sustainable energy in growing demand.