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Life cycle assessment of cheese production process in a small-sized dairy industry in Brazil

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Abstract

Current research identifies, analyzes, and suggests improvements for minimizing environmental impacts in the manufacture of cheese using the life cycle assessment. Data collection and development of the inventory were performed in a small-sized dairy industry in Brazil. A cradle-to-gate approach was conducted based on the primary data from cheese production and secondary data from databases. The ReCiPe method was used for the impact assessment, considering the categories climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, water depletion, and fossil depletion. A sensitivity analysis was performed including evaluations of different fuels for generating thermal energy, strategies for cleaning of dairy plant and utensils, variations in the way of cheese production based on the fat content, and production percentage changes. The results showed that the skimmed milk and thermal energy productions, electricity usage, and water consumptions were the main elementary flows. The pallet residues showed the best to be used as fuel for thermal energy. Detergent combinations did not influence the impact categories. There was a direct relationship between fat content range (20 to 30%) and the contribution in six impact categories. Changes from 20% in cheese allocation factor influenced the impact assessment results. LCA allowed identifying the main elementary flow of cheese production, providing valuable information with the potential to verify opportunities for on-site improvements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (476725/2012-7, 313293/2014-7), and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB) (APP0056/2011, PAM0017/2014) for funding the current research. Thanks are also due to the owner of the dairy industry for his collaboration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials and Environment Research Group, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia – UESB, Rodovia BR 415, km 03, Itapetinga, Bahia, 45700-000, Brazil

    Hudson Carlos Maia Santos Jr. & Luciano Brito Rodrigues

  2. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz – UESC, Rodovia Jorge Amado, km 16, Salobrinho, Ilhéus, Bahia, 45662-900, Brazil

    Henrique Leonardo Maranduba & José Adolfo de Almeida Neto

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  1. Hudson Carlos Maia Santos Jr.
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  2. Henrique Leonardo Maranduba
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  3. José Adolfo de Almeida Neto
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  4. Luciano Brito Rodrigues
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Correspondence to Luciano Brito Rodrigues.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Santos, H.C.M., Maranduba, H.L., de Almeida Neto, J.A. et al. Life cycle assessment of cheese production process in a small-sized dairy industry in Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 3470–3482 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8084-0

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