Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 10, 2025
11:33
Laboratory Production of Biofuels and Biochemicals from a Rapeseed Oil through Catalytic Cracking Conversion
Published on: September 2, 2016
14.1K
Measuring Circularity in Food Supply Chain Using Life Cycle Assessment; Refining Oil from Olive Kernel
Amin Nikkhah1,2, Saeed Firouzi3, Keyvan Dadaei3
1Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 3, 2021
Summary
This study assesses the environmental impact of producing oil from olive kernels, a food waste valorization strategy. Natural gas use significantly contributes to global warming potential and other environmental damages.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Circular Economy
- Industrial Ecology
Background:
- Food waste valorization is key to sustainable food supply chains.
- Quantifying environmental impacts of valorization systems is crucial.
- Olive kernel oil production offers a case study for food waste valorization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the circularity and environmental impacts of refining oil from olive kernels.
- To provide an industrial-based life cycle inventory for olive kernel oil production.
- To assess the cradle-to-factory gate impacts of this valorization process.
Main Methods:
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.
- Inventory analysis of an industrial olive kernel oil production system.
- Evaluation of environmental impact categories including global warming potential, human health, ecosystem quality, and resource depletion.
Main Results:
- Natural gas consumption emerged as the primary contributor to most environmental impact categories.
- The global warming potential was calculated at 1.37 kg CO2eq per kg of olive kernel oil.
- Environmental damages per kg of oil were 5.29 × 10-7 DALY (human health), 0.12 PDF∙m2∙yr. (ecosystem quality), and 24.40 MJ (resource depletion).
Conclusions:
- Olive kernel oil production, while a food waste valorization strategy, has notable environmental impacts, particularly from natural gas use.
- The LCA provides critical data for optimizing the sustainability of food waste valorization systems.
- Further research should focus on mitigating the environmental footprint of such industrial processes.
