Análise de ecoeficiência do óleo extraído da amêndoa de castanha de caju

• Autor(a) principal: Monte, Pollyana Maria Pimentel
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/63825
• topic: Avaliação de ciclo de vida; Pegada de carbono e hídrica; Óleo vegetal; Impactos ambientais; Castanha de caju

The Northeast region of Brazil, mainly the state of Ceará, has a high production of cashew, from which the cashew nut almond is obtained as the main exported product. The processing of cashew nuts is carried out by large and small producers (mini-factories) and in both, the almonds are broken, reducing their market value. To add value to the broken almond, its oil can be extracted, which has nutritional properties similar to those of olive oil. The cashew almond oil extraction process is currently under development. The objective of this research is to evaluate the eco-efficiency of 1 Kg of almond oil, considering environmental and economic indicators, in an ex-ante situation, enabling the optimization of processes before use on an industrial scale. For this, the eco-efficiency obtained based on the relationship between the value of the product system, considering the monetary value of the sale of almond oil, and the value of the environmental impact, assessed through the carbon and water footprint of the oil production. This analysis considered agricultural cashew production, cashew nut processing in mini-factories and oil extraction, therefore, a cradle-to-gate approach. The carbon footprint was assessed through the climate change category; and the water footprint, through the impact categories of water scarcity, cancer and non-cancer human toxicity, freshwater and marine eutrophication, and freshwater ecotoxicity. Improvement scenarios were proposed that made it possible to identify in which situation the production was more eco-efficient. In the assessment of eco-efficiency, the result of the reference situation, which considers agricultural production, the production of broken almonds in medium productivity mini-factories, and the oil extraction was 0.244 R$/KgCO2 eq and in the water footprint, this value varied between 0.199 R$/m3 and 73,470,000.000 R$/CTUh. In the comparison between the scenarios, a reduction in these values was observed in the use of whole almonds instead of broken ones and in agricultural production with low input, due to the lower value of environmental impact. It was identified that the water footprint comes from oil production, varying between 6.29% and 96.54%. And agricultural production was the main responsible for the impact on the carbon footprint, with a contribution of 80.6%. The impacts come mainly from the use of fertilizers and diesel. In oil extraction, the impacts come from the use of sodium hydroxide and the treatment of the liquid effluent generated, while the processing of nuts, a less impactful step, generated impacts related to the transportation of nuts and electricity consumption. The analysis of alternative production scenarios showed that the use of whole almonds instead of broken almonds reduced footprints. It is concluded that the ex-ante eco- efficiency assessment can be used to optimize processes, as it allows observing the product from a business point of view, considering its economic value linked to environmental concerns.