Preliminary environmental study of the citrus industry or Tucuman (Argentina) based on the Life Cycle Assessment

PEÑA, I. J.; APUD, M. B.; GAROLERA DE NUCCI, PATRICIA L.; SALAS, H.; MELE, FERNANDO DANIEL

Lima

Conferencia; Sixth International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment (CILCA 2015); 2015

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

This work presents a preliminary study of the citrus industry in Tucumán (Argentina) through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The study involves a ?cradle to gate? approach, in which three main products are considered: essential oil, dehydrated peel and concentrated juice. A year of harvest is considered as temporal scope, and the functional unit is represented by a reference flow of 100 tons of lemon fruit. Two allocation approaches are considered: by mass and by economic value. Results clearly show the negative impact of the agricultural activities due to synthetic agrochemicals use, which may be regarded as an interesting improvement hotspot. When mass allocation is considered, it is remarkable how dehydrated peel greatly contributes to most of the impact categories. However, the analysis considering economic allocation shows that the impact is transferred to essential oil and concentrated juice.