Title:
Environmental Impact Analysis of Brazil's Southern Region Canola Oil Production
Author(s):
Costa, T.S., Caldeira-Pires, A., Silveira, E.A., Cardoso, A.N., Kovaleski, S., de Gouvea, J.A.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Canola (Brassica napus) oilseed can be grown in tropical regions, such as Brazil's low-latitude savannas. A considerable part of South America's tropical and subtropical grain production regions can meet the growing world demand for products derived from this grain, such as proteins and high-quality oil. Brazil's southern region concentrates most of canola research and production, especially in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. This centralization is fostered by the existence and proximity of industries that process grains, having easy access to cultivation and marketing techniques. The potential to compose crop rotation systems in the off-season and autumn-winter periods is another important factor. This possibility allowed the canola seed tropicalization and the crop expansion to subtropical regions such as the cerrado of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Thus, the present work's objective is elaborating a life cycle inventory (LCI) of canola production in the South of Brazil, considering its two main products, oil and bran. The life cycle inventory (ISO 14040 standards) involves collecting data and calculation procedures to quantify the production system's relevant inputs and outputs. The system's limits include canola agricultural production up to the vegetable oil extraction unit's outlet gate, a cradle-to-gate analysis. This study applies this methodology to evaluate the hotspots (critical points) that most contribute to the oil production chain's environmental impacts. The LCI preliminary results show that the agricultural phase has a fundamental role in the environmental impacts, standing out the emissions associated with the chemical fertilizers and diesel oil for transporting and harvesting. In the stages of drying the grains, extracting and degumming the oil, firewood is used to generate heat and steam, proving the environmental relevance of biomass for the generation of energy compared to the fossil fuels burning. Results show that reducing chemical fertilizers consumption and introducing alternative fuel on farms has paramount importance to make the canola oil and other oilseeds production more environmentally sustainable.
Keywords:
canola, environmental impact, oil, life cycle inventory, bran
Topic:
Sustainable Bioeconomy: Impacts and Policies
Subtopic:
Environmental Impacts
Event:
29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
4AV.3.14
Pages:
1168 - 1171
ISBN:
978-88-89407-21-9
Paper DOI:
10.5071/29thEUBCE2021-4AV.3.14
Price:
FREE
