LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION PROCESSES

Albarelli J.; Tresinari dos Santos D.; Torres R.A.C.; Meireles M.A.A. · The Food Industry: Perceptions, Practices and Future Prospects (2021)

Resumen

The growing interest of industrialized nations expressed through academics and industry in reducing the negative impact on the environment has motivated the search for new processes simulation tools, studied from raw materials to the production of a finished product. Currently, these tools make it possible to measure the positive impact when the scaling of these processes are analyzed from the laboratory-scale data brought into the process at the laboratory level carried out into pilot or industrial-scale processes. Thus, through simulation tools such as Aspen Plus, Aspen HYSYS, SuperPro Design and others, variables that were not considered in a process developed at the laboratory level are visualized more closely. Research on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in particular on supercritical fluid extraction processes shows promising advantages when compared to conventional processes. For example, such advantages become more distant when a bigger volume of raw material is processed through various processes cycle and then CO2 is utilized again at its maximum through the recirculation within. This chapter presents a proposal of how LCA should be approached using the following four stages: Goal and Scope definition, Life cycle inventory, Life cycle impact assessment, and Interpretation and improvement of the system. In addition, this chapter reviews different studies that investigate the environmental impact of supercritical processes using the LCA methodology. The results of the LCA to the process of supercritical water gasification of coal, supercritical water gasification of biomass, SFE of volatile oil from Aquilarias inensis, among other supercritical fluid-based processes in comparison with conventional techniques usually presented better environmental results.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Chota