Identifying the environmental hotspots of dietary fibres extraction from chickpea hull

Abstract

Pursuing new sources for food production in a context of demographic growth requires achieving a sustainable production model to face the current climate crisis. The biorefinery concept emerges as a technological scheme for the integral processing of renewable resources such as food waste obtained from the processing industry. This research aims to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the valorisation route of chickpea peel to produce dietary fibre. Coupling process modelling with life cycle assessment approaches allows designing the potential biorefinery platform and identifying factors that may restrict its application in large-scale production. Global warming, particulate matter, eutrophication and ecotoxicity-related, fossil scarcity, among others, were the impact categories analysed with a cradle-to-gate approach. Results showed, for instance, that one kilogram of dietary fibre product emits 7.62 kg CO2 eq, 14.08 g PM2.5 and 4.37 g of P eq. Furthermore, alkaline digestion and bleaching were the most impactful stages in the categories analysed, due to the use of potassium hydroxide and sodium chlorite, respectively. This research contributes to rethink chickpea hulls from the food industry as a by-product towards high value-added products with applicability in the same industry.