Hybrid water footprint and life cycle assesment of crude palm oil production

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate water footprint (WF) of 1 ton crude palm oil (CPO) production from nursery, plantation, and palm oil mill. WF is one of the methods that can be used as a tool for calculating volume of water consumption through the processing of the product. Moreover, this study integrated WF methods for quantifying water volume and used life cycle assessment approach as a tool to evaluate potential impacts through the supply chain. In addition, geo informatics system method was used to illustrate topography and land surface of study locations. Furthermore, this study also determined water deprivation from freshwater used in producing per ton of crude palm oil. The amount of WF at nursery stage ranges from 1.02 to 1.07 m3/seedling. Meanwhile, the WF at plantation stage ranges from 685 m3/ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to 1528 m3/ ton of FFB. The total water foot print for various mill processes ranges from 6.90 m3 to 9.00 m3/ton. Therefore, the average WF in this study is equivalent to 4391 m3/ton of CPO. The significant environmental impacts from this study are freshwater ecotoxicity (kg 1,4-DB eq.), marine eutrophication (kg N-eq.), water depletion (m3), fossil depletion (kg oil eq.), and climate change (kg CO2-eq.). For water deprivation results at nursery range from 8x10e-6 to 5x10e-4 H2O eq. Meanwhile at plantation stage, it ranges from 6x10e-2 H2O eq. to 5.5x10e-1 H2O eq. At mill stage, water deprivation ranges from 1.18 H2O eq. to 1.55 H2O eq. This study has highlighted the outcomes to the environment, governance, and economic sector.