TITLE:
Life Cycle Assessment of Cashew Nutshell Briquettes Produced in Côte d’Ivoire
AUTHORS:
Bi Tra Désiré Zinla, Ekoun Paul Magloire Koffi, Kamenan Blaise Koua, Kpeusseu Angeline Kouambla Epse Yeo, Prosper Gbaha
KEYWORDS:
LCA, Briquettes, Cashew Nutshell, Biomass, Environmental Impact
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
10,
2024
ABSTRACT: Now one of the main cash crops in Côte d’Ivoire, the cashew tree feeds an entire industrial sector based on the processing of its fruit. This processing generates a large volume of waste, consisting of cashew nutshells, the management of which poses environmental problems. With the aim of replacing charcoal and firewood with more environmentally friendly fuels, several studies are currently being carried out into the optimal use of cashew shells in fuel briquettes. To assess the environmental sustainability of these briquettes, this study calculates the environmental impacts associated with their life cycle, compares them with those of charcoal and firewood, and identifies the processes that contribute most to environmental pollution, with a view to improving them. Analysis of the results showed that cashew nutshell briquettes emit a range of pollutants over their life cycle that damage the environment and are responsible for the 7 impact categories considered: acidification, eutrophication, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, global warming, human toxicity, photochemical oxidation and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. However, they are more environmentally friendly than charcoal and firewood for 5 impact categories: freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, global warming, human toxicity, photochemical oxidation and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. The 3 elementary processes, i.e. transport of biomass raw materials, production, and combustion of briquettes, emit pollutants that contribute most to the creation of environmental impact categories. The most relevant pollutants are nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM).