Design for environment applied to rice production Leda Coltro 1*, Luiz Fernando M. Marton 2, Fábio Panciera Pilecco 2, Ademar Cadore Pilecco 2, Lucas Felini Mattei 2 1 Institute of Food Technology ITAL, Packaging Technology Center CETEA, Campinas, SP, Brazil 2 Pilecco Nobre Alimentos Ltda., Alegrete, RS, Brazil
Project End-to-End Sustainability 3rd edition - 2013 Rice (160.3 g/day) and beans (182.9 g/day) are the basis of Brazilians food consumption. That is why rice has been chosen as one of the 18 products of the project End-to-End Sustainability developed by Walmart Brasil and its main suppliers. Introduction
Project End-to-End Sustainability 3rd edition Introduction
Rice cropping fields are important contributor to climate change since they are a major methane source. The area of rice cropping fields in the world is gradually increasing and this area is expected to continue expanding as the world population increases. So, mitigating methane emission in these areas is an important issue. This can be accomplished through water management practices. In this project, Pilecco Nobre Alimentos Ltda. implemented several improvements in the rice production with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the product with the assistance of CETEA/ITAL. Life cycle thinking was applied to the rice production system in order to evaluate of possibilities of reducing the environmental impact of the rice production Introduction
This work was conducted in accordance with the International Standard ISO/TR 14062 (2009). Taking into account the life cycle thinking, improvements have been applied to several stages of the life cycle of rice production. Life cycle stage Irrigation Drying Core and clean Packaging Transport Traditional production system (baseline) Irrigated rice cropping system Firewood furnace and temperature rate system with high grains breakage Without rice recovery Plastic packaging from nonrenewable resource Conventional diesel truck fleet New production system Underground drip irrigation rice cropping system Steam radiators and homogeneous temperature system with reduced grains breakage Rice recovery after straw removal Plastic packaging from renewable resource, sugar cane Diesel S10 and more efficient truck fleet Methods
The goal of this work was to reduce the environmental impact of rice production. Traditional rice production system was established as a baseline case against which the impacts of the conditions could be quantified. The work was carried out from June 2012 to August 2013. The new irrigation system was implemented by Pilecco Nobre Alimentos Ltda. in a cultivation area of 64 hectares, in Alegrete, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Functional unity = 1,000 kg of packed rice (5 kg packs), available at retail System boundaries Energy Production Fertilizers Production Rice Cultivation Rice Processing T Rice at retail Packaging T = Transport Methods
Farm specific data along with industrial production data have been combined in order to model a rice production system. GHG emission factors for transport and energy production were obtained from GHG Protocol Brasil (2012). The environmental aspects relative to the fertilizers production were taken from recognized database and included in the boundary. The inventory quantities - fossil/renewable primary energy demand (PED), - land use and - water use were analyzed. GWP (100 years), eutrophication (EU) and acidification (AP) were estimated according to the CML method (GUINÉE, 2002). Methods
1. Irrigation Irrigated system (baseline case) - A pumping system with a high flow demand - Several days to complete irrigation - Great water loss due to evaporation and shifting in the channels - Contamination of the catchment rivers by fertilizers and pesticides Underground drip irrigation system - A system of channels that directs the water flow always to the same place - Avoids water loss by evaporation and shifting - Fertilizers and pesticides are applied without loss Benefits: lower energy and water use and lower aquatic eutrophication and ecotoxicity Results
2. Drying Grain Flow Hot Air In Saturated Air Out Air Flow in the Drying Rack Traditional drying rack Uniform Grains Output New system of drying rack - Dryers with furnaces feed by rice straw or - Vapor from thermal power plant feed firewood to generate hot gases by rice straw instead of firewood - It can degrade the grain by breakage due - Differentiated system of drying rack to formation of temperature gradient that allows a more homogeneous - Breakage of the rice grain can also occurs distribution of the hot air due to the high recirculation - It reduces the recirculation of grains inside the equipment Benefits: the use of renewable energy from waste as well as a better yield of whole rice grains. Results
3. Core and clean All rice straw generated by Pilecco Nobre is sent to GEEA - Alegrete Electric Energy Producer Ltd., where it is used as raw material to produce electric energy and silica. However, a fraction of rice without straw as well as rice still with straw is lost during the straw removal process, being forwarded with the straw itself to electric energy generation. Equipment for rice recovery after straw removal It works by weight difference between the straw and the grain. Benefits: to recover the rice that used to be burnt with the straw and then increased the yield of the productive system. Results
4. Packaging PE from non-renewable resource The polyethylene from renewable resource has the same properties, performance and versatility of applications as the polyethylene from non-renewable resource, which makes easy its use. For the same reason it is recyclable in the same recycling chain of the traditional polyethylene Benefits: - Use of renewable resources - Reduction of non-renewable resources consumption (oil) - Decrease of GHG emissions PE from renewable resource (ethanol from sugar cane) Results
5. Transport Truck fleet based on traditional diesel consumption, which emits 500 mg of sulfur per liter of diesel and has an average fuel consumption of 0.33 L of diesel per km Substitution of 7 trucks by new trucks that uses diesel S10 which emits 10 mg of sulfur per liter of diesel, besides an average fuel consumption of 0.29 L of diesel per km. Benefits: -Reduction of non-renewable resources consumption (oil) - Lower GHG emissions and acidification potential than the previous fleet Results
Parameter Improvement Yield (kg/ha) 1,152.36 Primary energy demand (MJ) -234.85 Electric energy consumption (MJ) -206.94 Non-renewable energy (MJ) -26.45 Water consumption (L) -198,505.31 Non-renewable resources (kg) -7.61 Firewood consumption (kg) -71.55 Rice waste (kg) -1.42 Land use (ha) -0.03 GWP (100yr) (kg CO 2 eq) -31.43 Aquatic eutrophication (kg PO 4 ---eq) -15.75 Aquatic acidification (kg SO 2 eq) -46.16 FU = 1,000 kg of packed rice Results
Aquatic acidification (kg SO2 eq) Aquatic eutrophication (kg PO4---eq) Yield (kg/ha) GWP (100yr) (kg CO2 eq) Land use (ha) Rice waste (kg) Firewood consumption (kg) Non-renewable resources (kg) Water consumption (L) Non-renewable energy (MJ) Electric energy consumption (MJ) Primary energy demand (MJ) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Irrigation Drying Core and clean Packaging Transport Results
Conclusion This work supplied important results for the better environmental performance of the rice production, making this product a lower environmental impact than the traditionally cultivated rice. An expressive reduction of water consumption was observed in the rice cultivation due to the substitution of the irrigated rice cropping system by the underground drip irrigation rice cropping system, besides other benefits like reduction of energy use, fertilizer and pesticide loss and GHG emissions. The 15% increased yield was mainly a result of the new cultivation system. Conclusion
Acknowledgement The authors are grateful to Pilecco Nobre Alimentos Ltda. for the financial support. The authors also thank all the people who have contributed to this study or by responding the questionnaires or for their useful comments during the development of this project. Acknowledge
Thank you PRESENTED BY Leda Coltro ITAL/CETEA ledacolt@ital.sp.gov.br