Technology-based comparative life cycle assessment for palm oil industry: the case of Nigeria

Anyaoha, Kelechi E. and Zhang, Lulu, (2022). Technology-based comparative life cycle assessment for palm oil industry: the case of Nigeria. Environment, Development and Sustainability, n/a-n/a

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Anyaoha, Kelechi E.
    Zhang, Lulu
    Title Technology-based comparative life cycle assessment for palm oil industry: the case of Nigeria
    Appearing in Environment, Development and Sustainability
    Publication Date 2022-02-28
    Place of Publication Cham, Switzerland
    Publisher Springer Nature
    Start page n/a
    End page n/a
    Language eng
    Abstract Oil palm dominates global oil production, trade, and consumption. Nigeria is one of the leading palm oil producers and consumers. A significant challenge of the palm oil industry is to reduce the environmental impacts (e.g. pollution and carbon footprint) and integrate a circular economy in operation. This study aims to comparatively quantify the environmental impacts of technologies used by different mills. We applied a life cycle assessment in the case of Nigeria. The study covers the reception and processing of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) to end-product palm oil. The inputs include generated empty fruit bunch (EFB), mesocarp fibre, palm kernel shell, palm oil mill effluent, diesel, water and all outputs to the environment for a functional unit of 1-tonne FFB. The results showed that large-scale mills perform worse (468 kg CO2-eq per t FFB) than the semi-mechanised and smallholder mills in effects on climate change but better in the other impact categories, including human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and fine particulate matter formation. In large-scale mills, the climate change impacts decrease by 75% when the raw palm oil mill effluent (POME) is used in composting EFB. Similarly, climate change impacts reduce by 44% when biogas from POME substitutes diesel in the semi-mechanised and smallholder mills. We conclude that regulatory measures are needed to ensure improved management practices in the production processes. Particular attention should be paid to the generation and reuse of biomass and POME.
    Keyword Life cycle assessment
    Environmental impact
    Climate change mitigation
    Circular economy
    Copyright Holder The Authors
    Copyright Year 2022
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.1007/s10668-022-02215-8
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    Created: Tue, 01 Mar 2022, 01:15:29 JST by Eric Siegmund on behalf of UNU FLORES