Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Life cycle assessment of the production of beet sugar and its by-products

Garcia Gonzalez, Maria Nelly LU orcid and Björnsson, Lovisa LU (2022) In Journal of Cleaner Production 346.
Abstract

This work presents estimates of the emissions resulting from the production of white sugar and its by-products (molasses, pressed beet pulp and dried beet pulp) from sugar beet cultivation to the final product at the factory gate. The study covers the impact of global warming potential, eutrophication potential (freshwater and marine) and particulate matter. The analysis was based on detailed primary data provided by Nordic Sugar A/S, from the Örtofta Sugar Factory (southern Sweden). The results of this analysis are presented for the functional unit of 1 tonne (t) white sugar without allocation. Economic and energy allocations were also applied and compared for white sugar and its by-products. The allocation of emissions to the product... (More)

This work presents estimates of the emissions resulting from the production of white sugar and its by-products (molasses, pressed beet pulp and dried beet pulp) from sugar beet cultivation to the final product at the factory gate. The study covers the impact of global warming potential, eutrophication potential (freshwater and marine) and particulate matter. The analysis was based on detailed primary data provided by Nordic Sugar A/S, from the Örtofta Sugar Factory (southern Sweden). The results of this analysis are presented for the functional unit of 1 tonne (t) white sugar without allocation. Economic and energy allocations were also applied and compared for white sugar and its by-products. The allocation of emissions to the product and by-products reduced the emissions for white sugar by 9% in the economic allocation, and by 21% in the energy allocation. The low economic value of the by-products gave rather low emissions for all by-products when applying economic allocation. These results were compared with those in the literature for white sugar in terms of global warming potential (GWP), and the results showed the lowest impact for both allocations. Replacing fossil natural gas as the main process energy source with softwood chips reduced the GWP for white sugar (without allocation to by-products) from 623 to 342 kg CO2eq/t, illustrating the considerable potential for greenhouse gas emission reduction by replacing fossil fuels in the production process.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Economic allocation, Energy allocation, Molasses, Softwood chips, Sugar beet pulp
in
Journal of Cleaner Production
volume
346
article number
131211
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85126149034
ISSN
0959-6526
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131211
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a1c96d8d-7cfc-49b2-b0de-75470ea294d7
date added to LUP
2022-12-27 15:12:12
date last changed
2022-12-27 15:12:12
@article{a1c96d8d-7cfc-49b2-b0de-75470ea294d7,
  abstract     = {{<p>This work presents estimates of the emissions resulting from the production of white sugar and its by-products (molasses, pressed beet pulp and dried beet pulp) from sugar beet cultivation to the final product at the factory gate. The study covers the impact of global warming potential, eutrophication potential (freshwater and marine) and particulate matter. The analysis was based on detailed primary data provided by Nordic Sugar A/S, from the Örtofta Sugar Factory (southern Sweden). The results of this analysis are presented for the functional unit of 1 tonne (t) white sugar without allocation. Economic and energy allocations were also applied and compared for white sugar and its by-products. The allocation of emissions to the product and by-products reduced the emissions for white sugar by 9% in the economic allocation, and by 21% in the energy allocation. The low economic value of the by-products gave rather low emissions for all by-products when applying economic allocation. These results were compared with those in the literature for white sugar in terms of global warming potential (GWP), and the results showed the lowest impact for both allocations. Replacing fossil natural gas as the main process energy source with softwood chips reduced the GWP for white sugar (without allocation to by-products) from 623 to 342 kg CO<sub>2eq</sub>/t, illustrating the considerable potential for greenhouse gas emission reduction by replacing fossil fuels in the production process.</p>}},
  author       = {{Garcia Gonzalez, Maria Nelly and Björnsson, Lovisa}},
  issn         = {{0959-6526}},
  keywords     = {{Economic allocation; Energy allocation; Molasses; Softwood chips; Sugar beet pulp}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cleaner Production}},
  title        = {{Life cycle assessment of the production of beet sugar and its by-products}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131211}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131211}},
  volume       = {{346}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}