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Article history:
Received 1 June 2014
Received in revised form
17 January 2015
Accepted 17 January 2015
Available online 28 January 2015
Agricultural production is a sector with high socio-economic signicance and key implications on
employment and nutritional security. However, the impacts of agrifood production and consumption
patterns on the environment are considerable, mainly due to the demand of large inputs of resources.
This paper presents a case study of olive oil production in Greece, an important agri-product especially
for countries in the Mediterranean basin. Life Cycle Assessment has been used to quantify the environmental performance of olive oil production. Fourteen sub-systems of the overall olive oil production are
investigated. All key parameters that are associated with the life cycle of olive oil production are studied
and environmental hotspots are diagnosed. Cultivation of olive trees and production of olive oil are the
sub-systems that are responsible for the majority of the environmental impacts and thus any effort to
minimize the overall life cycle impact from olive oil production should include them.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
LCA
Olive oil production
Environmental impact
Case study
Greece
1. Introduction
Agrifood is considered as one of the industrial sectors with a
major political and economic signicance and as such it is highly
regulated and protected within Europe (Iakovou et al., 2014).
Moreover, it is one of the sectors with key implications on human
capital employment, nutritional security, but also on environmental sustainability due to the demand of large inputs of resources (Tukker et al., 2006; Koroneos et al., 2005). Solely, the food
and drink sector is responsible for nearly one third of the overall
environmental impacts in Europe (Bakas, 2012).
In the last decade, the increased alertness of consumers on the
impacts of agrifood production and consumption patterns on the
environment urged the industry within the sector to give emphasis
on the environmental issues related to their products (Matos and
Hall, 2007; Maloni and Brown, 2006; Vachon and Klassen, 2006;
Welford and Frost, 2006; Ilbery and Maye, 2005; Courville, 2003;
Weatherell and Allinson, 2003). However, in practice there are
major obstacles in conducting studies that deal with impacts of
food products from farm to fork. This is mainly attributed to the
lack of public databases with suitable data for such a large and
76
77
78
Table 1
Association of the functional unit with the system's parameters.
Product
Primary packaging
Secondary
packaging
Palletizing of
olive oil
Description
Material
Weight (g)
Percentage of
weight (%)
Olive oil
Bottle
Cap
Tag
Carton
Adhesive tape
Pallet
Stretch lm
Olive oil
PET
PP
Paper
Paper
PVC
Wood
LLDPE
Total
875.00
43.00
8.00
1.30
91.67
0.33
1.53
0.35
1021.18
85.75
4.214
0.784
0.127
8.984
0.032
0.150
0.034
100
Table 2
Fuel consumption and emissions from olive cultivation.
Fuel
Energy
Water
Air emissions
VOC
CO
NOx
PM10
SOx
CH4
N2O
CO2
Hydrocarbons
Waste water
BOD
COD
Organic compounds
(in lt)
(in MJ)
(in lt)
(in
(in
(in
(in
(in
(in
(in
(in
(in
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
g/diesel
63.2
2787
2000
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
lt)
3.54
26.55
33.90
2.56
10.11
0.19
0.04
3036
10.9
0.04
0.04
0.42
Table 4
Raw materials, air emissions, solid waste and wastewater from the manufacturing of
1 lt of olive oil.
Unit
Energy
Electricity
Olive pits
Materials
Olives
Water
Air emissions
VOC
CO
NOx
PM10
TSP
SOx
CH4
N2O
CO2
NMVOC
Waste water
COD
BOD5
N
P
Solid wastes
Fats
Solid wastes
Leaves
Pomace
Manufacturing
MJ
MJ
Electricity
Pomace
Total
2.93
0.93
2.93
0.93
g
lt
4000
8.00
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
0.1395
0.5892
0.0025
0.0454
0.4990
0.0172
0.1809
2.8502
0.3618
0.0078
220.4
0.0155
0.3630
0.0091
0.0010
0.2315
224.4
171.36
2.6112
0.816
281.52
28.56
0.0025
0.1849
1.0882
0.0172
0.1809
3.2132
0.3709
0.0088
220.6
0.0155
224.4
171.36
2.6112
0.816
281.52
28.56
g
g
160
1600
Table 3
Fuel consumption in the phases of olive cultivation (per acre).
Activity
Plowing
Irrigation
Transportation of fertilizers
Fertilizing
Transportation of pesticides/herbicides
Pesticiding/Herbiciding
Pruning
Harvesting
Transportation of olives to manufacturer
Total
Truck
Duration
(in hrs)
Consumption
(in lt)
Consumption
(in lt)
Visits
(#)
Routes
(#)
Mileage
(in km)
Consumption
(in lt)
0.5
3.25
2
2
4
4
16
16
1.2
1.2
0.28
1
5
2
10
8
40
0.6
3
12
10
24
20
96
80
7.2
6
2.4
19.20
2.68
2.12
0.17
0.85
0.33
2
4
0.5
7.50
1.7
13
20.4
2.9
42.10
2.12
79
Fig. 2. Inputs and outputs in the olive oil production subsystem for 1 lt of extra virgin olive oil.
Table 5
Characterization methodology.
Unit
Characterization factor
Source
g
g
g
g
CO2-eq/g
CO2-eq/g
CO2-eq/g
CO2-eq/g
1
23
296
1,57
IPCC
IPCC
IPCC
VHK
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
SO2eeq/g
1
0.7
0.88
1.88
1.6
1.88
1.88
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
PO4 3 -eq/g
0.13
0.35
0.349
0.42
0.13
1.34
3.06
1
0.022
0.022
0.066
0.08
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
C2H6-eq/g
0.007
0.761
0.761
1
0.398
0.416
0.443
0.032
Goedkoop
Goedkoop
Goedkoop
Rydh et al
Goedkoop
Goedkoop
Goedkoop
Rydh et al
(2001).
(2001).
(2001).
(2005).
(1995).
(1995), LCA-Center (2004).
(1995), LCA-Center
(1995), LCA-Center (2004).
VHK (2005).
Rydh et all (2002).
80
Fig. 3. Distribution of energy and water consumption in the olive oil production system.
production and transportation are the most responsible contributors, followed by packaging and fertilizers' production and
transportation.
The potential contributions to global warming per subsystem
are presented in Fig. 4. It is clear that the cultivation of olives is the
greatest contributor to global warming in olive oil production
(40.37%). Bottles' production and transportation and production of
olive oil follow, as they account for the 22.41% and 21.35%,
respectively. It should be highlighted that the three aforementioned subsystems are responsible for nearly 85% of the overall
global warming potential.
Figs. 5e7 graphically present the characterized results as
regards acidication, eutrophication and photochemical oxidation,
respectively. Cultivation of olives is the biggest contributor of all
subsystems in terms of acidication (followed by olive oil production and fertilizers' production, transportation and use) and
81
Fig. 5. Acidication impact in the olive oil production system expressed as g SO2-eq per subsystem.
Fig. 6. Eutrophication impact in the olive oil production system expressed as g PO4 3 -eq per subsystem.
82
Fig. 7. Photochemical oxidation impact in the olive oil production system expressed as g C2H6-eq per subsystem.
4. Conclusions
Agriculture and agrifood production occupies an important
position in the society and the economy. Although critical for the
global food security, it represents one of the main contributors for
the impacts to the natural environment. This paper examines the
environmental impact of olive oil production in Greece, which is
considered a critical product nationally mainly due to its signicance to the local economy. The overall impact is detailed into the
level of fourteen (14) indicative sub-systems in order to provide a
clear picture of those processes that are most important environmental wise.
Since the study mainly involves the olive oil manufacturer, the
authors place emphasis on the improvement of the production of
olive oil subsystem. In this light, and according to modern trends in
olive oil production, there are basically two suggestions that can be
proposed to the manufacturer under study in order the latter to
reduce waste and therefore decrease the required energy, water
and steam consumption. More specically, the use of special
equipment for malaxation operating in 2-fases that are not using
water is highly suggested. Such equipment may achieve less production time and requires low temperature (22e23 C) to operate.
Moreover, the adoption of a full Just-In-Time strategy for receiving
olives from farms may also signicantly improve the manufacturer's efciency. The main objective of such a strategy is to minimize storage and processing time, so as the latter not to exceed
12 h.
It is worth mentioning that the present study does not primarily
target to quantify the environmental emissions of the presented
olive oil production system. Such an effort could be misleading
when all the limitations, lack of data and assumptions made are
taken into consideration. Nonetheless, this study provides useful
managerial insights and diagnoses the relevant environmental
hotspots in the effort to provide the stakeholders with scientic
evidence and assist towards producing eco-friendlier products. As a
future challenge, the authors are planning to also include
83
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