Abstract
Natural stoppers are a magnificent closure for the production of aging wines and unique wines, whose application is limited by the availability of raw materials and more specifically of cork sheets of different thickness and quality. The growing demand for quality wine bottle closures leads to the search for alternative stopper production. The two-piece stopper is an alternative since it uses non-usable plates in a conventional way for the production of quality caps. The present study has analyzed the impact of the manufacture of these two-piece stoppers using different methodologies and for different dimensions by developing an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), concluding that the process phases of the plate, its boiling, and its stabilization, are the phases with the greatest impact. Likewise, it is detected that the impacts in all phases are relatively similar (for one kg of net cork produced), although the volumetric difference between these stoppers represents a significant difference in impacts for each unit produced.
Highlights
IntroductionWithin the Mediterranean climate zones, the cork oak is more common in those areas with a great oceanic influence that favors a damping of both the effects of drought and temperature
Throughout this work, a LCA has been carried out in order to identify the main environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of two-piece natural cork stoppers from thin sheet cork
It can be deduced that there is an important relationship between the volume of use of the raw cork sheets and the impacts generated by the activity since, as it is not possible to classify the sheets until the end of their stabilization process, independently of the selected geometry there will be a consumption of resources directly associated with the processing of each unit of raw cork
Summary
Within the Mediterranean climate zones, the cork oak is more common in those areas with a great oceanic influence that favors a damping of both the effects of drought and temperature. It is a species that does not proliferate outside the areas and conditions outlined, which makes cork a unique, scarce and valuable product [4]. In these forests it can be found both as a min tree species and together with other Mediterranean trees [5]
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