[4-1600-C] Postharvest/Food Technology and Process Engineering (4)

[4-1600-C-09] Application of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) Methodology in Bioethanol Production from Sugar Industry Wastewater (Molasses) – A Case Study in West Java Province, Indonesia

*Agusta Samodra Putra^1,2, Ryozo Noguchi³, Tofael Ahamed³ (1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba(Japan), 2. Research Center for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences(Indonesia), 3. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba(Japan))

Keywords:molasses, LCA, sugar industry, bioethanol

Sugar industry plays an important role in Indonesia. Sugar industry wastes consist of biomass waste (sugarcane bagasse) and liquid waste (molasses). To increase the economic and environmental performance in the sugar industry, utilization of molasses for biorefinery product such as bioethanol is the appropriate solution. In this study, the environmental performance of integrated sugar and bioethanol industry in West Java Province was investigated. Life Cycle Inventory of sugar industry in Subang and bioethanol industry in Palimanan, West Java Province, Indonesia was investigated. This LCA study follows a gate-to-gate system boundary from the sugar industry to bioethanol production. SimaPro v8.0.5 software was used for LCA calculation with Chain Management by Life Cycle Assessment (CML) as an environmental impact assessment method. Acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP100), eutrophication potential (EP), and human toxicity potential (HTP) were quantified with 1 kg of bioethanol product as a functional unit. Based on LCA approach, environmental impacts for producing 1 kg of bioethanol from molasses are 0.0030 kg SO₂ eq of AP, 0.1929 kg CO₂ eq of GWP100, 0.0004 kg PO₄ eq of EP, and 0.1494 kg 1,4-DB eq of HTP. Utilization of chemicals in the fermentation process gave a significant environmental impact. Sugarcane bagasse waste in this industry was used for heat and power generation that enough to fulfill process energy requirement. Environmental performance improvement can be proposed by using the LCA approach. In this industry, chemical usage in the fermentation process is the main environmental impact contributor.