Cargando…
The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment
Ecuador is one of the largest banana exporters in the world. This sector generates wealth and employment in the country. Life cycle method tools support finding critical points and improvement measures in systems. In this study, the Ecuadorian banana is evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA),...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9601378/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37431035 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11203288 |
_version_ | 1784817049912999936 |
---|---|
author | Veliz, Kevin Chico-Santamarta, Leticia Ramirez, Angel D. |
author_facet | Veliz, Kevin Chico-Santamarta, Leticia Ramirez, Angel D. |
author_sort | Veliz, Kevin |
collection | PubMed |
description | Ecuador is one of the largest banana exporters in the world. This sector generates wealth and employment in the country. Life cycle method tools support finding critical points and improvement measures in systems. In this study, the Ecuadorian banana is evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA), including agriculture, packaging, transfer to the Port of Guayaquil, and transport to a foreign port. OpenLCA software was used, applying the Recipe Midpoint (H) V1.13 impact evaluation method and using primary data collected from a local producer and secondary data from Ecoinvent 3.6 databases, Agribalyse 3.0.1, and the literature. Functional units were established at three levels: “1 ton of Banana at-the-farm-gate”; “1 ton of Banana at-the-packaging-stage-gate”; and “1 ton of Banana at-the-port-of-destination”. The impact categories evaluated are climate change (GWP100), fossil depletion (FDP), freshwater eutrophication (FEP), marine eutrophication (MEP), ozone layer depletion (ODPinf), particulate matter formation (PMFP), formation of photochemical oxidants (POFP), and terrestrial acidification (TAP100). The carbon footprint (GWP100) of “Banana at-the-farm-gate”, “Banana at-the-packaging-stage-gate”, and “Banana at-the-foreign-port” ranged from 194 to 220, 342 to 352, and 615.41 to 625.44 kg CO(2)-Eq/Ton banana, respectively. Hotspots of the system are the fertilizer field emissions, cardboard packaging, rachis disposal, and maritime transport. Improvement measures should focus on reducing the amount of fertilizers and developing circular alternatives for residual biomass valorization. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9601378 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-96013782022-10-27 The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment Veliz, Kevin Chico-Santamarta, Leticia Ramirez, Angel D. Foods Article Ecuador is one of the largest banana exporters in the world. This sector generates wealth and employment in the country. Life cycle method tools support finding critical points and improvement measures in systems. In this study, the Ecuadorian banana is evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA), including agriculture, packaging, transfer to the Port of Guayaquil, and transport to a foreign port. OpenLCA software was used, applying the Recipe Midpoint (H) V1.13 impact evaluation method and using primary data collected from a local producer and secondary data from Ecoinvent 3.6 databases, Agribalyse 3.0.1, and the literature. Functional units were established at three levels: “1 ton of Banana at-the-farm-gate”; “1 ton of Banana at-the-packaging-stage-gate”; and “1 ton of Banana at-the-port-of-destination”. The impact categories evaluated are climate change (GWP100), fossil depletion (FDP), freshwater eutrophication (FEP), marine eutrophication (MEP), ozone layer depletion (ODPinf), particulate matter formation (PMFP), formation of photochemical oxidants (POFP), and terrestrial acidification (TAP100). The carbon footprint (GWP100) of “Banana at-the-farm-gate”, “Banana at-the-packaging-stage-gate”, and “Banana at-the-foreign-port” ranged from 194 to 220, 342 to 352, and 615.41 to 625.44 kg CO(2)-Eq/Ton banana, respectively. Hotspots of the system are the fertilizer field emissions, cardboard packaging, rachis disposal, and maritime transport. Improvement measures should focus on reducing the amount of fertilizers and developing circular alternatives for residual biomass valorization. MDPI 2022-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9601378/ /pubmed/37431035 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11203288 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Veliz, Kevin Chico-Santamarta, Leticia Ramirez, Angel D. The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title | The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title_full | The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title_fullStr | The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title_full_unstemmed | The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title_short | The Environmental Profile of Ecuadorian Export Banana: A Life Cycle Assessment |
title_sort | environmental profile of ecuadorian export banana: a life cycle assessment |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9601378/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37431035 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11203288 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT velizkevin theenvironmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment AT chicosantamartaleticia theenvironmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment AT ramirezangeld theenvironmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment AT velizkevin environmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment AT chicosantamartaleticia environmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment AT ramirezangeld environmentalprofileofecuadorianexportbananaalifecycleassessment |