IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jcltec/v6y2024i2p29-571d1389714.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Impacts Associated with the Production and Packing of Persian Lemon in Mexico through Life-Cycle Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Eduardo Castillo-González

    (Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Circuito Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa 91040, Mexico)

  • Lorena De Medina-Salas

    (Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Circuito Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa 91040, Mexico)

  • Mario Rafael Giraldi-Díaz

    (Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Circuito Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa 91040, Mexico)

  • Raúl Velásquez-De La Cruz

    (Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Circuito Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa 91040, Mexico)

  • José Rafael Jiménez-Ochoa

    (Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Circuito Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Zona Universitaria, Xalapa 91040, Mexico)

Abstract

In this study, the environmental impacts associated with the intensive production of Persian lemons are assessed, including the agricultural and packing phases of the fresh fruit. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) tool was used in accordance with the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards and implemented in SimaPro PhD (9.2) software. The life-cycle inventory database was primarily composed of data collected during field visits to local lemon orchards and the main packing company in the region. The functional unit was defined as 1 kg of packed fresh Persian lemons. The selected impact categories were the carbon footprint, water footprint, and energy footprint, and the results obtained for the defined functional unit were 405.8 g CO 2 eq, 40.3 L of water, and 5.9 MJ, respectively. The industrial packing phase of the fruits had a greater impact on the carbon and energy footprints, mostly due to the manufacturing of packaging materials and cardboard boxes, followed by the transportation of supplies. Regarding the water footprint, the agricultural phase was identified as the most significant contributor to water consumption, primarily attributed to maintenance operations and the application of agrochemicals.

Suggested Citation

  • Eduardo Castillo-González & Lorena De Medina-Salas & Mario Rafael Giraldi-Díaz & Raúl Velásquez-De La Cruz & José Rafael Jiménez-Ochoa, 2024. "Environmental Impacts Associated with the Production and Packing of Persian Lemon in Mexico through Life-Cycle Assessment," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-21, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:6:y:2024:i:2:p:29-571:d:1389714
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/2/29/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/2/29/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mario Rafael Giraldi-Díaz & Eduardo Castillo-González & Lorena De Medina-Salas & Raúl Velásquez-De la Cruz & Héctor Daniel Huerta-Silva, 2021. "Environmental Impacts Associated with Intensive Production in Pig Farms in Mexico through Life Cycle Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, 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. Beike Sumfleth & Stefan Majer & Daniela Thrän, 2023. "A Review of Trade-Offs in Low ILUC-Risk Certification for Biofuels—Towards an Integrated Assessment Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-41, November.

    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:jcltec:v:6:y:2024:i:2:p:29-571:d:1389714. 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.