IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3990-d529556.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Case Studies of Agriculture Residue Exploitation

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessia Amato & Marianna Mastrovito & Alessandro Becci & Francesca Beolchini, 2021. "Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Case Studies of Agriculture Residue Exploitation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3990-:d:529556
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3990/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3990/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell K. van der Hulst & Mark A. J. Huijbregts & Niels van Loon & Mirjam Theelen & Lucinda Kootstra & Joseph D. Bergesen & Mara Hauck, 2020. "A systematic approach to assess the environmental impact of emerging technologies: A case study for the GHG footprint of CIGS solar photovoltaic laminate," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(6), pages 1234-1249, December.
    2. Amato, A. & Becci, A. & Birloaga, I. & De Michelis, I. & Ferella, F. & Innocenzi, V. & Ippolito, N.M. & Pillar Jimenez Gomez, C. & Vegliò, F. & Beolchini, F., 2019. "Sustainability analysis of innovative technologies for the rare earth elements recovery," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 41-53.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oana Dobre-Baron & Alina Nițescu & Dorina Niță & Cătălin Mitran, 2022. "Romania’s Perspectives on the Transition to the Circular Economy in an EU Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, April.
    2. Emilio Abad-Segura & Ana Batlles-delaFuente & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, 2021. "Implications for Sustainability of the Joint Application of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy: A Worldwide Trend Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-24, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cherepovitsyn, Alexey & Solovyova, Victoria & Dmitrieva, Diana, 2023. "New challenges for the sustainable development of the rare-earth metals sector in Russia: Transforming industrial policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Bonfante, Mariele Canal & Raspini, Jéssica Prats & Fernandes, Ivan Belo & Fernandes, Suélen & Campos, Lucila M.S. & Alarcon, Orestes Estevam, 2021. "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in rare earth magnets production: A review on state of the art and SWOT analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Emilio Abad-Segura & Ana Batlles-delaFuente & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, 2021. "Implications for Sustainability of the Joint Application of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy: A Worldwide Trend Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Opare, Emmanuel Ohene & Struhs, Ethan & Mirkouei, Amin, 2021. "A comparative state-of-technology review and future directions for rare earth element separation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Na Dong & Yanting Fu & Feng Xiong & Lujie Li & Yibin Ao & Igor Martek, 2019. "Sustainable Construction Project Management (SCPM) Evaluation—A Case Study of the Guangzhou Metro Line-7, PR China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    6. de Oliveira, R.P. & Benvenuti, J. & Espinosa, D.C.R., 2021. "A review of the current progress in recycling technologies for gallium and rare earth elements from light-emitting diodes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    7. Diana Eliza Godoi Bizarro & Zoran Steinmann & Isabel Nieuwenhuijse & Elisabeth Keijzer & Mara Hauck, 2021. "Potential Carbon Footprint Reduction for Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Innovations: LCA Methodology, Best Available Technology, and Near-Future Reduction Potential," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis & Lya G. Soeteman-Hernández & Cornelle W. Noorlander & Saeed Saedy & J. Ruud van Ommen & Martina G. Vijver & Gijsbert Korevaar, 2022. "Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design Framework Based on a Prospective Life Cycle Assessment: Lessons Learned from a Nano-Titanium Dioxide Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, April.
    9. Emma A. R. Zuiderveen & Koen J. J. Kuipers & Carla Caldeira & Steef V. Hanssen & Mitchell K. Hulst & Melinda M. J. Jonge & Anestis Vlysidis & Rosalie Zelm & Serenella Sala & Mark A. J. Huijbregts, 2023. "The potential of emerging bio-based products to reduce environmental impacts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    10. Idiano D’Adamo & Paolo Rosa, 2019. "A Structured Literature Review on Obsolete Electric Vehicles Management Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Steffi Weyand & Kotaro Kawajiri & Claudiu Mortan & Liselotte Schebek, 2023. "Scheme for generating upscaling scenarios of emerging functional materials based energy technologies in prospective LCA (UpFunMatLCA)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 676-692, June.
    12. D'Adamo, Idiano & Gastaldi, Massimo & Rosa, Paolo, 2020. "Recycling of end-of-life vehicles: Assessing trends and performances in Europe," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3990-:d:529556. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.