IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v12y2022i12p2159-d1004460.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Industrial Sotol Production in Mexico—A Life Cycle Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Manuel Madrid-Solórzano

    (Instituto de Arquitectura, Diseño y Arte, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. Av. del Charro 450 Norte. Col. Partido Romero, Ciudad Juárez 32310, Chihuahua, Mexico)

  • Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz

    (Instituto de Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Av. del Charro 450 Norte. Col. Partido Romero, Ciudad Juárez 32310, Chihuahua, Mexico)

  • Eduardo Martínez Cámara

    (Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad de La Rioja, C/San José de Calasanz, 31., Logroño 26006, La Rioja, Spain)

  • Julio Blanco Fernández

    (Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad de La Rioja, C/San José de Calasanz, 31., Logroño 26006, La Rioja, Spain)

  • Emilio Jiménez Macías

    (Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad de La Rioja, C/San José de Calasanz, 31., Logroño 26006, La Rioja, Spain)

Abstract

Sotol is a distilled spirit made in the north of Mexico produced from the wild plant Dasylirion wheeleri . Although sotol was awarded the Designation of Origin (DO) in 2002 and has an economic influence on the DO region, its environmental profile has not been determined. For that reason, this paper reports a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of the industrial sotol production process in the Mexican state of Chihuahua to determine any significant environmental impacts caused by sotol production from raw material acquisition to the packaging stage. The LCA was modeled using SimaPro 8.5.2 software (PRé Sustainability, Amersfoort, The Netherlands) and the environmental impacts were calculated using the CML-IA baseline v3.03/EU25 impact assessment technique. The findings reveal that sotol beverage manufacturing considerably affects three of the eleven impact categories selected and that the harvesting and bottling stages have the greatest negative environmental impact of all the sotol production stages. According to empirical data, one bottle (750 mL) of sotol results in a higher carbon dioxide value than any other spirit evaluated in earlier LCA studies, with white, rested, and aged sotol generating 5.07, 5.12, and 5.13 kg CO 2 eq, respectively. Other drinks, such as mescal, classic gin, and whisky generate only 1.7, 0.91, and 2.25 kg CO 2 eq, respectively. In conclusion, sotol distillery companies should start to decrease road transport of raw materials used in the packaging stage and begin to cultivate sotol instead of extracting it from the wild as strategies to achieve cleaner production.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Manuel Madrid-Solórzano & Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz & Eduardo Martínez Cámara & Julio Blanco Fernández & Emilio Jiménez Macías, 2022. "Sustainable Industrial Sotol Production in Mexico—A Life Cycle Assessment," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:12:p:2159-:d:1004460
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/12/2159/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/12/2159/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Briseño, Hugo & Ramirez-Nafarrate, Adrian & Araz, Ozgur M., 2021. "A multivariate analysis of hybrid and electric vehicles sales in Mexico," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Orlowski, Marissa & Lefebvre, Sarah & Back, Robin M., 2022. "Thinking outside the bottle: Effects of alternative wine packaging," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Bazilian, Morgan & Griffiths, Steve & Kim, Jinsoo & Foley, Aoife & Rooney, David, 2021. "Decarbonizing the food and beverages industry: A critical and systematic review of developments, sociotechnical systems and policy options," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Jorge Luis Becerra-López & Rigoberto Rosales-Serna & Muhammad Ehsan & Jesús Salvador Becerra-López & Alexander Czaja & José Luis Estrada-Rodríguez & Ulises Romero-Méndez & Saúl Santana-Espinosa & Césa, 2020. "Climatic Change and Habitat Availability for Three Sotol Species in México: A Vision towards Their Sustainable Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Jazmín Maciel Martínez & Eduardo Baltierra-Trejo & Paul Taboada-González & Quetzalli Aguilar-Virgen & Liliana Marquez-Benavides, 2020. "Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Energy Demand of Craft Mezcal in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Ben G. Li & Yibei Liu, 2018. "The Production Life Cycle," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(4), pages 1139-1170, October.
    7. Biraj Adhikari & Trakarn Prapaspongsa, 2019. "Environmental Sustainability of Food Consumption in Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-14, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Renata Toczyłowska-Mamińska & Mariusz Ł. Mamiński, 2022. "Wastewater as a Renewable Energy Source—Utilisation of Microbial Fuel Cell Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Róbert Csalódi & Tímea Czvetkó & Viktor Sebestyén & János Abonyi, 2022. "Sectoral Analysis of Energy Transition Paths and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-26, October.
    3. Hamed, Mohammad M. & Mohammed, Ali & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2023. "Renewable energy adoption decisions in Jordan's industrial sector: Statistical analysis with unobserved heterogeneity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    4. Kim, Dongin & Han, Jeehoon, 2020. "Techno-economic and climate impact analysis of carbon utilization process for methanol production from blast furnace gas over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    5. David Israel Contreras-Medina & Sergio Ernesto Medina-Cuéllar & Julia Sánchez-Gómez & Carlos Mario Rodríguez-Peralta, 2021. "Innovation of Women Farmers: A Technological Proposal for Mezcalilleras’ Sustainability in Mexico, Based on Knowledge Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-24, October.
    6. Isabel García Gutiérrez & Daniel Elduque & Carmelo Pina & Rafael Tobajas & Carlos Javierre, 2020. "Influence of the Composition on the Environmental Impact of a Casting Magnesium Alloy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Ledgard, Stewart F. & Wei, Sha & Wang, Xiaoqin & Falconer, Shelley & Zhang, Nannan & Zhang, Xiying & Ma, Lin, 2019. "Nitrogen and carbon footprints of dairy farm systems in China and New Zealand, as influenced by productivity, feed sources and mitigations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 155-163.
    8. Li, Jiaxuan & Zhu, Xun & Djilali, Ned & Yang, Yang & Ye, Dingding & Chen, Rong & Liao, Qiang, 2022. "Comparative well-to-pump assessment of fueling pathways for zero-carbon transportation in China: Hydrogen economy or methanol economy?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Alejandro Aristi Capetillo & Fredric Bauer & Cristina Chaminade, 2023. "Emerging Technologies Supporting the Transition to a Circular Economy in the Plastic Materials Value Chain," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 953-982, June.
    10. Azam, Muhammad & Younes, Ben Zaied & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Hussain, Nazim, 2022. "Integrated Spatial-Temporal decomposition analysis for life cycle assessment of carbon emission intensity change in various regions of China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Alessandro Franco & Lorenzo Miserocchi & Daniele Testi, 2023. "Energy Indicators for Enabling Energy Transition in Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    12. Furszyfer Del Rio, Dylan D. & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Foley, Aoife M. & Griffiths, Steve & Bazilian, Morgan & Kim, Jinsoo & Rooney, David, 2022. "Decarbonizing the ceramics industry: A systematic and critical review of policy options, developments and sociotechnical systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. Guerin, Turlough F., 2022. "Business model scaling can be used to activate and grow the biogas-to-grid market in Australia to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries: An application of entrepreneurial management," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Hidegh, Gyöngyvér & Csemány, Dávid & Vámos, János & Kavas, László & Józsa, Viktor, 2021. "Mixture Temperature-Controlled combustion of different biodiesels and conventional fuels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    15. Angelo Maiorino & Adrián Mota-Babiloni & Fabio Petruzziello & Manuel Gesù Del Duca & Andrea Ariano & Ciro Aprea, 2022. "A Comprehensive Energy Model for an Optimal Design of a Hybrid Refrigerated Van," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-23, July.
    16. Fally, Thibault & Hillberry, Russell, 2018. "A Coasian model of international production chains," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 299-315.
    17. Umair Yaqub Qazi, 2022. "Future of Hydrogen as an Alternative Fuel for Next-Generation Industrial Applications; Challenges and Expected Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-40, June.
    18. Sanjay Kumar Kar & Akhoury Sudhir Kumar Sinha & Sidhartha Harichandan & Rohit Bansal & Marriyappan Sivagnanam Balathanigaimani, 2023. "Hydrogen economy in India: A status review," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), January.
    19. Rahul Thunuguntla & Amir Mahboubi & Jorge A. Ferreira & Mohammad J. Taherzadeh, 2018. "Integration of Membrane Bioreactors with Edible Filamentous Fungi for Valorization of Expired Milk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    20. Ye, Jianan & Xie, Min & Zhang, Shiping & Huang, Ying & Liu, Mingbo & Wang, Qiong, 2023. "Stochastic optimal scheduling of electricity–hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas urban integrated energy system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1024-1044.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:12:p:2159-:d:1004460. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.