Joint life cycle assessment and data envelopment analysis for the benchmarking of energy, exergy, environmental effects, and water footprint in the canned apple supply chain

Abstract

The present investigation is designed to analyze the energy consumption rate, cumulative exergy demand (CExD), water footprint, and environmental impacts in canned apple production using life cycle assessment (LCA) technique. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was also used to identify effective measures in increasing apple orchard efficiency. The needed information was collected through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews in 2020 in the West Azerbaijan state of Iran. The result showed that energy consumption in apple production was 60,026.48 MJha−1. According to the DEA findings, the efficiency of apple orchards in the research area is low, and micronutrients and phosphate have the most potential to reduce. Furthermore, the number of efficient units based on technical performance, net performance and performance scale were 35, 93 and 35. There is a potential saving of 6073.15 MJha−1 of energy. Economic indices such as net return, benefit-to-cost ratio, and investment productivity were 3391.99 $ha−1, 1.75, and 6.003 kg$−1, respectively. The results of LCA+DEA illustrated that abiotic depletion has the greatest potential for reduction among environmental indicators, with a reduction rate of 35%. CExD outcomes determined that the rates of non-renewable fossil (812.16 MJt−1) for apple gardens mostly come from nitrogen and diesel fuel.