RT Journal Article
T1 Environmental insights of bioethanol production and phenolic compounds extraction from apple pomace-based biorefinery
A1 Rebolledo Leiva, Ricardo
A1 Estévez Rivadulla, Sofía
A1 Hernández Espinoza, Diógenes
A1 Moreira Vilar, María Teresa
A1 Feijoo Costa, Gumersindo
A1 González García, Sara
K1 Life cycle assessment
K1 Fruit waste
K1 Biomass valorisation
K1 Circular economy
K1 Biofuels
K1 Total phenolic compounds
AB Food waste is one of the main challenges of solid waste management throughout the food supply chain. Apples are one of the most widely consumed fruits worldwide, the production of which is accompanied by the generation of pomace as a by-product with valuable nutrients. This research presents the first environmental insights of a multiproduct apple pomace-based biorefinery through a life cycle perspective. The design and process modelling of this platform aims to produce bioethanol and extract total phenolic compounds (TPC) towards an efficient use of the pomace obtained from the apple manufacturing industry (juice production). Bioethanol production consist of pressing, fermentation, distillation as the main processes; while in the case of TPC, two extraction techniques were evaluated: i) solvent extraction (mainly water), and ii) the Soxhlet method. The life cycle analysis followed an attributional cradle-to-gate approach considering different midpoint impact categories from the ReCipe 2016 method such as Global Warming (GW), Eutrophication, Human Toxicity, Fossil Scarcity, among others. The results indicate that bioethanol production encompasses a GW profile of 3.17 kg of CO2 eq per kg of product, being the vinasse treatment (subproduct after distillation) the most impactful stage. Phenolic compounds extraction with water achieves a total value of 5.8 kg CO2 eq per g of TPC, while 0.22 kg CO2 eq per g of TPC is obtained with Soxhlet technique. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is addressed to improve the environmental profile of bioethanol and TPC. This research demonstrated the relevance of process design on the environmental performance of bioethanol and TPC, where stillage treatment has a key contribution to the results and the use of solvents in TPC extraction, although improving extraction yield, leads to a higher environmental impact.
PB Elsevier
SN 2772-8013
SN 10.1016/j.clcb.2024.100125
YR 2024
FD 2024-11-28
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/38731
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/38731
LA eng
NO Rebolledo-Leiva, R., Estévez, S., Hernández, D., Feijoo, G., Moreira, M.T., González-García, S., 2024 .Environmental insights of bioethanol production and phenolic compounds extraction from apple pomace-based biorefinery. Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy, 9, 100125.
NO This research is supported by the project Transition to sustainable agrifood sector bundling life cycle assessment and ecosystem services approaches (ALISE) (TED2021–130309B-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR. Estévez, S., Feijoo, G., Moreira, M.T., González-García, S. belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC ED431C-2021/37) and to the Cross-disciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS Research Center, ED431E 2018/01). S. Estévez also thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for financial support (Grant reference PRE2020-092074).
DS Minerva
RD 26 abr 2026