Abstract
Among the species currently cultivated for industrial vegetable oil production, castor could be a good candidate for future investments due to the good resistance to pests, tolerance to drought, and suitability for marginal lands cultivation. In addition, the production of castor oil from Ricinus generates a large quantity of press cake, husks, and crop residues that, in a framework of bioeconomy, could be used as by-products for different purposes. Using a case study approach, the work presents results of the environmental impact assessment and economic feasibility of the production of castor oil from two different castor hybrids comparing four by-products management scenarios and two harvesting systems (manual vs. mechanical). Castor hybrid C-856 harvested manually and that involved only the soil incorporation of press cake obtained by the oil extraction resulted as the most sustainable. The hybrid C-1030 resulted as more profitable than C-856 when harvested with the combine harvester. The ratio between gross margin and GWP emissions was applied to calculate the economic performance (gross margin) per unit of environmental burden. Findings showed that Sc1B scenario in case of C-856 cultivar hybrid had a better ratio between economic performance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere (€3.75 per kg CO2eq).
Highlights
The world’s population is estimated to exceed 9 billion people by 2050 according to FAO (2009)
Alexopoulou et al [6], from the comparison of various castor hybrids planted in Greece and Italy, found an average amount of stems and leaves of 1.08 Mgdm ha−1, and the hybrid C-856, that resulted as 133 cm tall (79% taller than in our study) in Greece (Aliartos area, Greece in 2014), allowed for obtaining 1.13 Mgdm ha−1 of stems and leaves against 0.87 Mg ha−1 obtained in the present study
The research focused on the evaluation of the environmental and economic sustainability of two different castor hybrids (C-856 and C-1030) comparing manual and mechanical harvesting methods, and by-product management
Summary
The world’s population is estimated to exceed 9 billion people by 2050 according to FAO (2009). Bioenergy production primarily aims at the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and achieving such a goal may lead to indirect land use change. Competition for land use among food and non-food crops is a serious issue that European Commission has been addressing for decades, and more stringent policy measures regarding sustainable production of food and energy are on the Agenda. New policy measures aim to achieve a 27% renewable energy share consumed by the electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation sectors by 2030 [3]. According to industry executives, the worldwide castor oil market is growing: The global castor oil market was $1180 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $1470 million by the end of 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8 percent between 2019 and 2025, according to international reports [7]. The price of castor oil in the beginning of 2019 in the international market reached 1600 dollars per ton compared with 1300 dollars per ton of 2018 [8]
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