Abstract
The objective of this study is to compare the environmental and social performance of two small-scale avocado biorefineries implanted in a rural zone in the North of Colombia. Two small-scale biorefineries were proposed. Small-B1 addressed to produce avocado oil and animal feed, and Small-B2 focused on the guacamole production. The environmental analysis was done by applying the life cycle assessment methodology. Then, agronomic information and process simulation were required to complete the analysis. Moreover, the water footprint of the avocado crops was estimated. Both biorefineries were compared with the direct avocados production and commercialization. The social assessment was achieved by the estimation of quantitative indicators related to wages, jobs, and working hours. The agricultural carbon and water footprints of the creole avocado crop were 0.59 kg CO2-eq/kg and 2.13 m3/kg. In the same way, Small-B1 and Small-B2 obtained a carbon and water footprints of 8.99 kg CO2-eq/kg and 6.63 m3/kg and 0.72 kg CO2-eq/kg and 1.38 m3/kg, respectively. The hotspots of the creole avocado crop are related to the use of fertilizers and fungicides. Then, new strategies should be implemented to reduce the farmer’s dependency. The social analysis exhibit a high resilience of the Small-B1 biorefinery since a salary increase to worker about 50% can be proposed. In addition, the installation of this biorefinery can create more than ten jobs. A disjunction was found between the economic, environmental, and social analyses. Thus, the need to establish a multidimensional strategy to design sustainable biorefineries is presented.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This paper is the result of the research work developed through the program: PROGRAMA DE INVESTIGACIÓN RECONSTRUCCIÓN DEL TEJIDO SOCIAL EN ZONAS DE POS-CONFLICTO EN COLOMBIA SIGP Code: 57579 within the research project “COMPETENCIAS EMPRESARIALES Y DE INNOVACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO ECONÓMICO Y LA INCLUSIÓN PRODUCTIVA DE LAS REGIONES AFECTADAS POR EL CONFLICTO COLOMBIANO” SIGP Code: 58907. Funded within the framework of Colombia Científica, Contract No FP44842-213–2018. This work was also supported by the research project “Aprovechamiento y valorización sostenible de residuos sólidos orgánicos y su posible aplicación en borrefinerías y tecnologías de residuos a energía en el departamento de Sucre” code BPIN 2020000100189. The authors express their gratitude to the call PROGRAMA NACIONAL PARA LAS MUJERES EN LA CIENCIA UNESCO-L’ORÉAL-MINCIENCIAS-ICETEX. Finally, this work was also supported by the research project titled “Impulsando el desarrollo de biosurfactantes a través de su ciclo de vida sistemático” from Minciencias contract number 80740–903-2020.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by JCST, MOS, and CACA. JCST wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Solarte-Toro, J.C., Ortiz-Sanchez, M. & Cardona Alzate, C.A. Environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA) and social impact assessment (SIA) of small-scale biorefineries implemented in rural zones: the avocado (Persea Americana var. Americana) case in Colombia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 8790–8808 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20857-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20857-z