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Incertezas na avaliação do ciclo de vida: um estudo de caso na suinocultura = Uncertainties in life cycle assessment: case study of swine production
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Cherubini, Edivan |
| Copyright Year | 2015 |
| Abstract | Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology standardized by ISO 14040 and 14044. LCA has been widely used as an environmental management practice by companies and government worldwide in an attempt to lead the current consumption patterns to a less aggressive economy in respect to society and the environment. However, despite being considered a consolidated methodology there are some issues that require constant methodological developments to increase the reliability in the decision-making. Aware of the importance of both themes LCA and sustainable production the aim of this PhD thesis was to evaluate the uncertainty due to the definitions on the approach used in multifunctional processes and in the impacts assessment in life cycle assessment, applied to a comparative case study of manure management systems of swine production. A LCA was conducted to quantify the environmental impacts of swine production considering four manure management systems (MMS): liquid manure storage in slurry tanks (Sce.Ref); the biodigestor by flare (Sce.Flare); the biodigestor for energy purposes (Sce.CHP); and composting (Sce.Comp). We proposed a specific procedure to estimate the manure emissions. Additionally, we performed a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the uncertainty due to different emissions factors to estimate nitrogen-related emissions from the manure-handling stage. For the methodological uncertainties, we conducted a sensitivity analysis of the approaches used in the multifunctional processes and in the life cycle impact assessment methods. The uncertainty analysis of the methodological choices was also performed through a Monte Carlo simulation based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, followed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a Turkey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test. For the MMS, Sce.CHP is the best alternative to decrease the environmental impacts on climate change, freshwater eutrophication, cumulative energy demand, terrestrial ecotoxicity, biodiversity damage potential and natural land transformation; while Sce.Ref is the best option to decrease the emissions of terrestrial acidification and marine eutrophication. Regarding to the methodological uncertainties, the impact categories of acidification, eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity were very sensitivity to the approach used in the multi-functional processes and the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method. For freshwater ecotoxicity impacts, there were no statistical difference between the options for MMS, therefore is not possible to indicate the scenario in order to decrease the environmental impacts. The uncertainties in the parameters showed a coefficient of variation (CV) up to 6.8% for terrestrial acidification, highlighting the need to create specific emissions factors for swine production in Brazil to decrease the uncertainty related to the inventory data in the case study. Regarding to the methodological uncertainties, we conclude that every decision-making based on the LCA outcomes should be accomplished by an uncertainty analysis. It was observed high variability in the results (CV up to 197% for ecotoxicity) and in specific situations, only a sensitivity analysis in the LCIA method can lead to a misleading interpretation of the LCA outcomes. The proposed methodology to evaluate the uncertainty due to methodological choices was effective and able to reduce uncertainty in decision-making. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/159405/337522.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
