scholarly journals Process Design Guided by Life Cycle Assessment to Reduce Greenhouse Gas-Related Environmental Impacts of Food Processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6864
Author(s):  
Dion M. F. Frampton ◽  
Nawshad Haque ◽  
David I. Verrelli ◽  
Geoff J. Dumsday ◽  
Kim Jye Lee-Chang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Marine Microorganisms ◽  
New Production ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Conventional Process

Food processing can generate large amounts of carbohydrate-rich waste that inevitably has environmental and social impacts. Meanwhile, certain heterotrophic marine microorganisms, including algae and thraustochytrids, have the potential to convert carbohydrate-rich substrates into oil-rich biomass over relatively short time frames. To assess the merits of this apparent synergy, an initial conceptual process was developed based on the use of raw potato processing waste as feed in an algal bioreactor to produce bio-oil for further use within the food industry. A practical flowsheet was established with a conventional 200 kL bioreactor whereby the unit processes were identified, the mass balance developed, and estimates made of the various material and energy demands. These inputs were used to develop a baseline life cycle assessment (LCA) model and to identify opportunities for reducing environmental impacts. With the functional unit (FU) being 1 tonne cooking oil, the baseline configuration had a greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of 2.4 t CO2-e/FU, which is comparable to conventional process routes. More detailed LCA revealed that electricity for stirring the bioreactor contributed approximately 78% of the total GHG footprint. By adjusting the operating conditions, the most promising scenario produced 0.85 t CO2-e/FU—approximately four times less than the conventional process—and shows the potential advantages of applying LCA as a tool to develop and design a new production process.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Heaven Mushroom Product

2021 ◽  
Vol 228 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Phatcharapron Sukkanta ◽  
Krittaphas Mongkolkoldhumrongkul
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Climate change affects all regions around the world, so efforts to minimize the environmental impacts of climate change have high importance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental impacts on the production of heaven mushroom product at the Ban Tai Khod community in Rayong, Thailand. In this study, cradle to gate was selected as the system boundary and functional unit from the life cycle assessment method. The results found that the process of building a mushroom house has the highest greenhouse gas emissions of 1, 496.609 kgCO2eq. The mushroom cubes mixing process has the highest energy consumption throughout the production process, requiring an energy consumption of 5.595 kWh. The greenhouse gas is released amount 3, 588.362 kgCO2eq. throughout this process. Additionally, the payback period of the heaven mushroom product is 0.92 years.

Life cycle assessment of the production of surface-active alkyl polyglycosides from acid-assisted ball-milled wheat straw compared to the conventional production based on corn-starch

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2135-2141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël Brière ◽  
Philippe Loubet ◽  
Edis Glogic ◽  
Boris Estrine ◽  
Sinisa Marinkovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Wheat Straw ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Corn Starch ◽  
Conventional Process ◽  
Alkyl Polyglycosides ◽  
Conventional Production ◽  
Surface Active

The environmental impacts of alkyl polyglycosides production from wheat straw are assessed and compared to the conventional process based on corn starch.

scholarly journals Environmental Consequences of Closing the Textile Loop—Life Cycle Assessment of a Circular Polyester Jacket

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2964
Author(s):  
Gregor Braun ◽  
Claudia Som ◽  
Mélanie Schmutz ◽  
Roland Hischier
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Energy And Material Flows

The textile industry is recognized as being one of the most polluting industries. Thus, the European Union aims to transform the textile industry with its “European Green Deal” and “Circular Economy Action Plan”. Awareness regarding the environmental impact of textiles is increasing and initiatives are appearing to make more sustainable products with a strong wish to move towards a circular economy. One of these initiatives is wear2wearTM, a collaboration consisting of multiple companies aiming to close the loop for polyester textiles. However, designing a circular product system does not lead automatically to lower environmental impacts. Therefore, a Life Cycle Assessment study has been conducted in order to compare the environmental impacts of a circular with a linear workwear jacket. The results show that a thoughtful “circular economy system” design approach can result in significantly lower environmental impacts than linear product systems. The study illustrates at the same time the necessity for Life Cycle Assessment practitioners to go beyond a simple comparison of one product to another when it comes to circular economy. Such products require a wider system analysis approach that takes into account multiple loops, having interconnected energy and material flows through reuse, remanufacture, and various recycling practices.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Households in Santiago, Chile: Environmental Hotspots and Policy Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2525
Author(s):  
Camila López-Eccher ◽  
Elizabeth Garrido-Ramírez ◽  
Iván Franchi-Arzola ◽  
Edmundo Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

The aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of household life cycles in Santiago, Chile, by household income level. The assessment considered scenarios associated with environmental policies. The life cycle assessment was cradle-to-grave, and the functional unit considered all the materials and energy required to meet an inhabitant’s needs for one year (1 inh/year). Using SimaPro 9.1 software, the Recipe Midpoint (H) methodology was used. The impact categories selected were global warming, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, mineral resource scarcity, and fossil resource scarcity. The inventory was carried out through the application of 300 household surveys and secondary information. The main environmental sources of households were determined to be food consumption, transport, and electricity. Food consumption is the main source, responsible for 33% of the environmental impacts on global warming, 69% on terrestrial acidification, and 29% on freshwater eutrophication. The second most crucial environmental hotspot is private transport, whose contribution to environmental impact increases as household income rises, while public transport impact increases in the opposite direction. In this sense, both positive and negative environmental effects can be generated by policies. Therefore, life-cycle environmental impacts, the synergy between policies, and households’ socio-economic characteristics must be considered in public policy planning and consumer decisions.

scholarly journals Impact of Cycle Time and Payload of an Industrial Robot on Resource Efficiency

Robotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Florian Stuhlenmiller ◽  
Steffi Weyand ◽  
Jens Jungblut ◽  
Liselotte Schebek ◽  
Debora Clever ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Resource Efficiency ◽  
Life Cycle Costs ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Cycle Times ◽  
The Individual

Modern industry benefits from the automation capabilities and flexibility of robots. Consequently, the performance depends on the individual task, robot and trajectory, while application periods of several years lead to a significant impact of the use phase on the resource efficiency. In this work, simulation models predicting a robot’s energy consumption are extended by an estimation of the reliability, enabling the consideration of maintenance to enhance the assessment of the application’s life cycle costs. Furthermore, a life cycle assessment yields the greenhouse gas emissions for the individual application. Potential benefits of the combination of motion simulation and cost analysis are highlighted by the application to an exemplary system. For the selected application, the consumed energy has a distinct impact on greenhouse gas emissions, while acquisition costs govern life cycle costs. Low cycle times result in reduced costs per workpiece, however, for short cycle times and higher payloads, the probability of required spare parts distinctly increases for two critical robotic joints. Hence, the analysis of energy consumption and reliability, in combination with maintenance, life cycle costing and life cycle assessment, can provide additional information to improve the resource efficiency.

27 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and a Partial Life Cycle Assessment When Growing Pigs Are Fed High Wheat Millrun Diets

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 24-25
Author(s):  
Agbee L Kpogo ◽  
Jismol Jose ◽  
Josiane Panisson ◽  
Bernardo Predicala ◽  
Alvin Alvarado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Growing Pigs ◽  
Pork Production ◽  
Feed Production ◽  
Farm Model ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of feeding growing pigs with high wheat millrun diets on the global warming potential (GWP) of pork production was investigated. In study 1, a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of wheat millrun (0 or 30%) and multi-carbohydrase enzyme (0 or 1 mg kg-1) as main effects was utilized. For each of 16 reps, 6 pigs (60.2±2.2 kg BW) were housed in environmental chambers for 14d. Air samples were collected and analyzed for carbon dioxide (CO2); nitrous oxide (N2O); and methane (CH4). In study 2, data from study 1 and performance data obtained from a previous feeding trial were utilized in a life cycle assessment (LCA) framework that included feed production. The Holos farm model (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge. AB) was used to estimate emissions from feed production. In study 1, total manure output from pigs fed 30% wheat millrun diets was 30% greater than pigs on the 0% wheat millrun diets (P < 0.05), however, Feeding diets with 30% millrun did not affect greenhouse gas (GHG) output (CH4, 4.7, 4.9; N2O, 0.45, 0.42; CO2, 1610, 1711; mg s-1 without or with millrun inclusion, respectively; P > 0.78). Enzyme supplementation had no effect on GHG production (CH4, 4.5, 5.1; N2O, 0.46, 0.42; CO2, 1808, 1513; mg s-1 without or with enzymes, respectively; P > 0.51). In study 2, the LCA indicated that the inclusion of 30% wheat millrun in diets for growing pigs resulted in approximately a 25% reduction in GWP when compared to the no wheat millrun diets. Our results demonstrate that 30% wheat millrun did not increase GHG output from the pigs, and thus the inclusion of wheat millrun in diets of growing pigs can reduce the GWP of pork production.

scholarly journals Sustainability Assessment with Integrated Circular Economy Principles: A Toy Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3856
Author(s):  
Rebeka Kovačič Lukman ◽  
Vasja Omahne ◽  
Damjan Krajnc
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Life Cycle Costing ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment

When considering the sustainability of production processes, research studies usually emphasise environmental impacts and do not adequately address economic and social impacts. Toy production is no exception when it comes to assessing sustainability. Previous research on toys has focused solely on assessing environmental aspects and neglected social and economic aspects. This paper presents a sustainability assessment of a toy using environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and social life cycle assessment. We conducted an inventory analysis and sustainability impact assessment of the toy to identify the hotspots of the system. The main environmental impacts are eutrophication, followed by terrestrial eco-toxicity, acidification, and global warming. The life cycle costing approach examined the economic aspect of the proposed design options for toys, while the social assessment of the alternative designs revealed social impacts along the product life cycle. In addition, different options based on the principles of the circular economy were analysed and proposed in terms of substitution of materials and shortening of transport distances for the toy studied.

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