Assessing the effects of wheat flour production on the environment

Evaluating the energy and environmental indicators allows for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a system for optimizing material and energy consumption and developing strategies to reduce environmental impacts. This study determined and assessed the energy and environmental indicators of wheat flour production systems. The input and output materials and corresponding energy equivalents were calculated and then the energy indicators and forms. The environmental indicators were assessed by the life cycle assessment method in SimaPro software. The total input and output energies per year of flour production were ۲۸۷۹۳۵۰۰۷ and ۲۸۶۶۷۵۲۰۰ MJ, respectively. Wheat had the highest share (۹۹.۱۹%) of energy consumption in flour production; the energy ratio, productivity, intensity, and net energy gain indexes were equal to ۱.۰۲, ۰.۰۷ kg/MJ, ۱۳.۸۴, MJ/kg, and ۰.۳۱ MJ/kg, respectively. In the flour factory, the share of direct and indirect energy was ۰.۲۷ and ۹۹.۷۳%, respectively; the share of renewable and nonrenewable energy was ۹۹.۱۹ and ۰.۸۱%, respectively. Wheat input had the largest share of environmental indicators in flour production. The normalization step showed that the most important environmental indicator was marine water ecotoxicity (۱.۵۳×۱۰۵ kg ۱.۴ DB eq/ton) followed by terrestrial ecotoxicity (۳۶.۵۹×۱۰۵ kg ۱.۴ DB eq/ton), eutrophication (۵.۸۳kg PO۴ eq/ton), and acidification potential (۶.۵۷kg SO۲ eq/ton) indicator.

کلیدواژه ها:

Wheat flour ، energy ، Environmental indicators ، Life cycle assessment