Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Case Studies of Agriculture Residue Exploitation

Alessia Amato, Marianna Mastrovito, Alessandro Becci and Francesca Beolchini
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Alessia Amato: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences-DiSVA, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Marianna Mastrovito: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences-DiSVA, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Alessandro Becci: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences-DiSVA, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Francesca Beolchini: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences-DiSVA, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: The agriculture sector produces significant amounts of organic residues and the choice of the management strategy of these flows affects the environmental sustainability of the sector. The scientific literature is rich with innovative processes for the production of bio-based products (BBP) from agriculture residues, aimed at the implementation of circular economy principles. Based on literature data, the present paper performed a life cycle assessment and assessed the environmental sustainability of five processes for the exploitation of rice and wheat straw, tomato pomace, and orange peel. The analysis identified as significant issues the high energy demand and the use of high impact organic solvent. The comparison of BBP with conventional products showed higher environmental loads for the innovative processes that used organic residues (except for rice straw case). The obtained results do not want to discourage the circular strategy in the agriculture sector, but rather to draw the attention of all stakeholders to the environmental sustainability aspects, focusing on the necessity to decrease the electricity demand and identify ecological agents to use in BBP manufacturing, in agreement with the most recent European policies.

Keywords: circular economy; agriculture residue; environmental sustainability; life cycle assessment; bio-based product (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3990-:d:529556

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