Abstract:

Banana pseudostems (BPS), which comprise about 60% of a banana plant's mass, represent a significant waste fraction in banana farms as they are cut down after each harvest. Because BPS fibers exhibit characteristics suitable for pulp and paper, and composite applications, a patented technology has been demonstrated to utilize BPS into moulded clamshells for food packaging and liquid Musa fertilizer. To determine the environmental sustainability of this technology, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed on the co-production of food packaging and fertilizer from BPS. Material and energy flows of the system are collected from the demonstration plant and their environmental impacts are analyzed through the ReCiPe, 2016 model with a functional unit of 1000 kg of BPS waste. System expansion revealed that the co-production of clamshell and fertilizer from BPS contributes less environmental burden than both of its corresponding conventional processes combined. The products are also compared to their conventional counterparts – expanded polystyrene (EPS) clamshell and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) fertilizer. In comparison to the conventional EPS clamshell, the PPY clamshell scored 1.6 to 4.2 times greater in 7 out of 18 midpoint indicators while the Musa fertilizer displayed an overall 4% to 99% lower environmental impact on all indicators than its counterpart, UAN fertilizer. Reducing the farm-to-plant distance by half is revealed to decrease toxicity and land occupation potential impacts by up to 47%. Siting of the BPS utilization plant further affects its environmental impacts as the electricity grid supplying the operations in a sensitive parameter on the life cycle impacts. The use of renewable energy sources is highly recommended to reduce the environmental impacts of its energy-intensive unit processes namely, pulp refining and moulding. The results of this work suggest that this patented technology can provide environmentally preferable products.

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