Hiloidhari Moonmoon, Haran Srinath, Banerjee Rangan, Rao Anand B
Interdisciplinary Programme (IDP) in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India; Green Story, Social Ventures Zone (KHS42), Ryerson University, 40 Gould Street, Toronto, Canada.
Interdisciplinary Programme (IDP) in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India.
Bioresour Technol. 2021 Jun;330:125012. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125012. Epub 2021 Mar 19.
Sugarcane is an important cash crop used for producing sweeteners and also some bioproducts (alcohol and bioenergy). The current study assesses life cycle energy, carbon and water footprint of sugarcane based sugar, ethanol and electricity in India. A farm to factory gate attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to assess the energy and carbon footprints whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) CropWat model is used to estimate the water footprint (green, blue and grey). For the base case, electricity has the highest energy return on investment (EROI), lowest carbon and water footprints among the bioproducts. The choice of allocation method (economic, mass, and energy) impacts the energy and environmental outcomes of the bioproducts. The comparison among four different sugarcane seasons shows that bioproducts available from Adsali sugarcane have the highest EROI, lowest carbon and water footprints. The findings could lead to improved sustainability of sugarcane bioproducts in India.
甘蔗是一种重要的经济作物，用于生产甜味剂以及一些生物产品（酒精和生物能源）。当前的研究评估了印度以甘蔗为原料的糖、乙醇和电力的生命周期能源、碳足迹和水足迹。开展了从农场到工厂大门的归因生命周期评估（LCA）以评估能源和碳足迹，而粮农组织的CropWat模型则用于估算水足迹（绿水、蓝水和灰水）。在基础案例中，电力在生物产品中具有最高的能源投资回报率（EROI）、最低的碳足迹和水足迹。分配方法（经济、质量和能源）的选择会影响生物产品的能源和环境结果。四个不同甘蔗季节的比较表明，阿萨尔甘蔗生产的生物产品具有最高的EROI、最低的碳足迹和水足迹。这些研究结果可能会提高印度甘蔗生物产品的可持续性。
