Avaliação de ciclo de vida no beneficiamento do arroz

Abstract

Rice is one of the most important cereals, both in cultivation on a global scale and in processing, generating employment and income, as it is a basic food for human consumption. In the Rio Grande do Sul, greater both in the cultivation and processing of this grain, the city of Pelotas is the study area of this research. Grain processing is an activity with great impacting potential, positive and negative, and for this reason, the research was carried out aiming to identify the most impactful sector associated with environmental aspects using Life Cycle Assessment as an evaluation methodology in grain processing of white rice. Visits were made to a processing unit where primary data were collected, thus characterizing the entire process, and identifying the final product of commercial interest. For data modeling, openLCA 1.10.2 was used, and the “Ecoinvent 3.6 apos unit” database, in addition to the Ecoinvent lcia method package. The impact categories from the CML 2001 model were used to receive and model the Life Cycle Inventory data built with secondary data, from the database, and primary data provided by the company that participated in this research. The industry was analyzed in its three main areas: Area 1 - Reception, Area 2 - Processing and Area 3 - Shipping. In response to the Life Cycle Inventory Assessment, the quantification of 13 impact categories was verified, with the highest scores focused on aquatic environments, receiving 100% of the process contribution, as higher scores for aquatic categories, and as a result of the contribution of activities grouped for the three processing areas management measures must be implemented, such as the union of the drying and husking areas of the grain, to use the most voluminous residue of the enterprise, the husks. Finally, it can be concluded that both Area 1 and Area 2 have a high polluting potential, the first for containing the largest number of inputs and outputs of waste, while in the second it is due to high energy consumption and generation of waste not used by the industry.