Lifecycle Assessment of Monosodium Glutamate Made from Non-Edible Biomass

Keiji Nakamura and Norihiro Itsubo
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Keiji Nakamura: Graduate School of Environmental and Information Studies, Tokyo City University, Yokohama 224-8551, Japan
Norihiro Itsubo: Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University, Tokyo 158-8557, Japan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: The open burning of agricultural residues derived from rice is a social issue in Thailand, as it causes air pollution in the form of smoke. A way to prevent smoke air pollution is to pulverize glycosylated non-edible biomass and convert it to monosodium glutamate (MSG). This study assessed MSG produced by non-edible biomass and compared the environmental performance of MSG produced using tapioca starch. The scope of this study ranges from the cultivation of raw materials to the production of MSG. The adopted impact categories include carbon, water, and air pollution. The primary data refer to the average unit input and fuel consumption of annual MSG production. The secondary data are used for inventories, namely, Ecoinvent 3, the Water Footprint Network, and the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook. We also conducted an impact assessment of the health impacts and weighting across several impact categories using LIME-3. The human health impact assessments for MSG from non-edible biomass and tapioca starch show gains of 1.92 × 10 −5 and 3.59 × 10 −5 DALYs per kg MSG, respectively. This difference is due to declining water scarcity and air pollution footprints. We found that using rice straw prevents water scarcity and smoke air pollution caused by open burning.

Keywords: lifecycle assessment; monosodium glutamate; carbon footprints; water scarcity footprints; air pollution footprints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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