Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of orange peel waste in present productive chains

Agriculture has become an essential sector in the economic growth of developing countries. Although food production at a large scale is the primary purpose, the residues are in some cases not fully exploited, representing environmental problems. The biorefinery concept has gained strength for developing sustainable agriculture communities based on the integral utilization of the raw materials from agriculture or agribusiness. The environmental impact of the productive chain related to any product or group of biorefinery products must be assessed to understand the possible processing effects. This evaluation allows defining the most polluting stages, which can be improved by implementing different process alternatives. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the global environmental impact of different scenarios related to the orange peel waste (OPW) production, disposition, and valorization. Four scenarios were evaluated considering the life cycle assessment approach. These scenarios were, (i) Orange juice production with OPW landfilling, and (ii) Orange juice production and OPW valorization under the low complexity biorefinery context (iii) Orange juice production and OPW valorization under the medium complexity biorefinery context and (iv) Orange juice production and OPW valorization under the high complexity biorefinery context. Then, a sensitivity analysis was carried out considering mass and economic allocations. The environmental assessment results demonstrated that the agronomic stage has the highest contribution in the total orange processing chain. On the other hand, the scenario with the highest environmental impact was associated with the OPW disposal in landfills. The use of OPW to obtain added-value products was more environmentally friendly. This work allows concluding the environmental advantages of the valorization for agro-industrial residues through biorefineries.