TY - JOUR
T1 - The environmental impact of nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica) production in Mexico City, Mexico through a life cycle assessment (LCA)
AU - Vergel-Rangel, Guillermo Alexis
AU - Escamilla-García, Pablo Emilio
AU - Camarillo-López, Raúl Horacio
AU - Esquivel-Guzmán, Jair Azael
AU - Pérez-Soto, Francisco
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica) is widely cultivated in Mexico as a food raw material. However, the environmental impact caused by the growth and harvesting life cycle of this feedstock has been poorly studied. In this study, the environmental consequences of the growing, harvesting and transportation processes of nopal were evaluated with the aid of a life cycle assessment (LCA) method using SimaPro software version 8.5.2. The results showed that global warming (83.13%) and ozone depletion (99.25%) were significantly affected by the cultivation process due to current fertilization methods. The number of estimated gasses and chemicals emitted like ammonium (18.88 kgNH3/ha/year), nitrogen oxides (35.32 kgNOX–NO2/ha/year) and nitrous oxide (28.57 kgN2O/ha/year) were believed to be the result of the chemical fertilizers employed. The current cultivation process additionally reported emissions of nitrate (886.48 kgNO3/ha/year) and phosphorus (0.041 kg P/ha/year) caused by soil water erosion. The transportation process reported low levels of environmental impact; however, a significant amount of acidification (88.54%), mineral depletion (80.95%) and water consumption (84.06%) resulted from the process utilized to produce nopal in brine. In summary, the entire process resulted in a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 0.562 kg/CO2 eq.
AB - Nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica) is widely cultivated in Mexico as a food raw material. However, the environmental impact caused by the growth and harvesting life cycle of this feedstock has been poorly studied. In this study, the environmental consequences of the growing, harvesting and transportation processes of nopal were evaluated with the aid of a life cycle assessment (LCA) method using SimaPro software version 8.5.2. The results showed that global warming (83.13%) and ozone depletion (99.25%) were significantly affected by the cultivation process due to current fertilization methods. The number of estimated gasses and chemicals emitted like ammonium (18.88 kgNH3/ha/year), nitrogen oxides (35.32 kgNOX–NO2/ha/year) and nitrous oxide (28.57 kgN2O/ha/year) were believed to be the result of the chemical fertilizers employed. The current cultivation process additionally reported emissions of nitrate (886.48 kgNO3/ha/year) and phosphorus (0.041 kg P/ha/year) caused by soil water erosion. The transportation process reported low levels of environmental impact; however, a significant amount of acidification (88.54%), mineral depletion (80.95%) and water consumption (84.06%) resulted from the process utilized to produce nopal in brine. In summary, the entire process resulted in a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 0.562 kg/CO2 eq.
KW - Climate change
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Nopal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104873922&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10668-021-01428-7
DO - 10.1007/s10668-021-01428-7
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85104873922
SN - 1387-585X
VL - 23
SP - 18068
EP - 18095
JO - Environment, Development and Sustainability
JF - Environment, Development and Sustainability
IS - 12
ER -
