Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602

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Process Biochemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/procbio

Integrated Environmental Assessment of sunflower oil production

D. Spinelli, S. Jez, R. Basosi ∗
Department of Chemistry and Center for Complex System Investigation, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The high energy and petroleum based fuels demand of the world require use of alternative fuels from
Received 8 February 2011 materials available within each country. Therefore biofuels may be an alternative to mineral diesel. A
Received in revised form 6 August 2011 local pilot production of sunflower oil was implemented in order to test the possibility to reduce fossil
Accepted 12 August 2011
fuels consumption on a local scale. Vegetable oils can be directly obtained from oilseed plants and can
Available online 19 August 2011
be used as energy sources in internal combustion engines.
Environmental Impact Indicators were provided by Material Flow Accounting, Embodied Energy Anal-
Keywords:
ysis and Emergy Accounting. All three approaches reveal that the agricultural phase is the critical step in
Vegetable oil
Material Flow Accounting
the whole production line from the point of view of environmental impact. The renewability calculated
Embodied Energy Analysis for the sunflower oil is 33.6%.
Emergy Accounting A comparative Life Cycle Assessment analysis for the sunflower oil production line from conventional
Life Cycle Assessment farming with organic farming showed environmental advantages.
Furthermore use of vegetable oils instead of diesel oil as energy sources in internal combustion engines
reduces carbon dioxide emissions of 59%.
This study represents an opportunity for farms to reduce dependence on petroleum and to explore
energy production systems exploiting renewable energy.
© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Vegetable oil can be obtained from oilseed plants (groundnut,
rapeseed, soybean, sunflower), and from the seeds of plants grown
for textile fibers and, secondarily, for oil (mainly cotton and flax).
Oil-bearing fruits come mostly from coconut palms, walnut trees,
oil palms (palm fruits and kernels), and olive trees (olive). Vegetable
oils have a chemical composition that in most cases corresponds to
a mixture of 95% triglycerids and 5% free fatty acids, sterols, waxes
and various impurities [1–4].
Furthermore they have physical and chemical characteristics
close to those of diesel oil and therefore behave like similar fuels
[2,5]. They are used as alternative to conventional fuels and feed-
stock in biotechnology applications for production of biodiesel
[6–9]. They are biodegradable, non-toxic and, as they are of plant
origin, their use has the potential to significantly reduce carbon
dioxide (CO2 ) emissions into the atmosphere [3]. It has been found
that pure vegetable oil can be used as diesel fuel in conventional
diesel engines, which leads to the following problems [10]: (1)
the injection, atomization and combustion characteristic of veg-
etable oils in diesel engine are significantly different from those of
the diesel fuel; (2) high viscosity of vegetable oil interferes with
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0577234240; fax: +390577234239.
E-mail address: basosi@unisi.it (R. Basosi).
injection process and leads to poor fuel atomization; (3) the ineffi-
cient mixing of oil with air, contributes to incomplete combustion,
leading to heavy smoke emission; (4) the high flash point attributes
to lower volatility characteristics; (5) both cloud and pour points
are significantly higher than that of diesel fuel making to arise
problems in presence of cold weather; (6) the consequences of
the low cetane number for vegetable oil compared to diesel oil is
a difficult start-up when the engine is cold and increases noise;
(7) the phosphorus content may cause severe damage in the form
of abrasive scaling in the combustion chambers; (8) high carbon
deposits; (9) scuffing of the engine liner; (10) injection nozzle fail-
ure.
The idea of using vegetable oils instead of diesel oil as energy
sources in internal combustion engines of co-generation systems
(combining heat and power, CHP) appears to be a potential alterna-
tive to decrease the global carbon dioxide level [6]. The operating
procedure is to start the engine on conventional fuel and run
the engine until it and the vegetable oil are warmed up enough
to switch over to straight vegetable oil. How long the warm up
will vary is depending on ambient temperature, quality of oil
and the ability of the engine type to accept a more viscous fuel
[2].
Co-generation is an energy conversion process, where electric-
ity and useful heat are produced simultaneously in one process
from the same energy source. Co-generation systems often cap-
ture otherwise wasted thermal energy, usually from an electricity

1359-5113/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.procbio.2011.08.007
1596 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602
producing device like a heat engine (e.g., steam-turbine, gas-
turbine, diesel-engine), and use it for space and water heating,
industrial process heating, or as a thermal energy source for another
system component [11]. These systems are generally manufactured
as fully packaged units that can be installed within a plant room
or external plant compound with simple connections to the site’s
electrical distribution and heating systems.
The principal technical advantage of co-generation systems is
their ability to improve the efficiency of fuel use in the production
of electrical and thermal energy. Less fuel is required to produce
a given amount of electrical and thermal energy in a single co-
generation unit than is needed to generate the same quantities of
both types of energy with separate, conventional technologies (e.g.,
turbine-generator sets and steam boilers). This leads to a reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions. Concerning first generation biofuels,
it should also be considered that although in general they are able
to induce a lower climate change potential, they can be responsi-
ble for other environmental damages (e.g. eutrophication, resource
depletion, ecotoxicity, loss of biodiversity). Furthermore their pro-
duction can generate competition with food crops for the use of
arable land with impact on global food markets [12]. Currently,
about 1% (14 million hectares) of the world’s available arable land
is used for the production of biofuels, providing 1% of global trans-
port fuels [13]. Increasing that share should be carefully assessed
by deep analysis of the local context and the production system
under study, in order to establish if the amount of biofuel that
can be produced is sufficient to cover a significant fraction of the
energy demand. The impacts of the destination change of agricul-
tural land on the world’s food supply should be carefully evaluated
[13]. The production of second generation biofuels from the whole
plant matter of dedicated energy crops or agricultural residues, for-
est harvesting residues or wood processing waste, rather than from
food crops should be implemented as soon as possible [14]. How-
ever, on local scale, when there is a need for integrating farmers’
agricultural budget by means of an even small income or savings
from bioenergy production, first generation biofuel should still be
considered.
The purpose of this study was an environmental analysis of
sunflower oil production line on a local scale in the province of
Siena (Tuscany) as well as a comparative environmental evaluation
between sunflower seeds produced from conventional and organic
farming. Finally, the study evaluated the reduction of CO2 emissions
by use of biofuel as alternative fuel to diesel oil.
2. Material and Methods
2.1. Physical characteristics of Vegetable Oils
The quality of vegetable oils depends on the nature of the
oil-bearing biomass and the treatment it undergoes. The physi-
cal characteristics usually considered are reported in Table 1. The
high trend of development for the vegetable oil worldwide requires
standard norms too. In 2006, the DIN V 51605 became the European
standard for the rapeseed oil fuel. While it applies to rapeseed oil
only, quality criteria specified are relevant for all vegetable oils.
This restriction is due to the fact that the standard serves as a basis
for legal contracts. Other vegetable oils are excluded because no
sufficiently documented long term experiences are available so far.
2.2. Goal and Scope definition
The Province of Siena, an area in the Tuscany region of Italy, has a
surface of 3820 km2 with a predominant hilly landscape (92%). The
main occupation is agricultural (wheat, grapes, oil and fruit) which
represents the most relevant economic sector of the district [16].
In this context a pilot production line of sunflower oil affords an
opportunity to reduce fossil fuel consumption. The scope includes
the agricultural phase and the sunflower oil extraction and all trans-
portation activities within the system boundary. The functional unit
of this study is defined as 1 kg of sunflower oil.
Average data for 2010 from five farms for conventional and
organic farming and a small scale plant for the extraction phase
were used. The type of sunflower crop used was high oleic. Organic
sunflower seeds are produced without use of mineral fertilizers and
pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides),
that otherwise are intensively used in the conventional farming.
Sunflower seeds were transported to the extraction plant by a 28-
32 t road truck for a distance of 100 km. Sunflower oil was obtained
by simple cold pressing with a capacity between 420-480 kg of
seeds processed per hour. Then filtration by a filter press removes
all impurities from oil (heavy particles, metals, phospholipids) to
sizes of approximately 1 ␮m for a better quality of fuel.
Four environmental assessment methods were adopted for the
analysis: Material Flow Accounting (MFA), Embodied Energy Anal-
ysis (EEA), Emergy Accounting (EA) and Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA). These approaches were used because each of them reveals
important aspects of sustainability and each adds complementary
viewpoints [17]. Results from the analysis were compared with the
results of other similar recent studies. Materials, energy flows and
infrastructures, supporting each production step, were accounted
for in the sunflower oil production line. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
was conducted for a comparative evaluation of the sunflower oil
production line from sunflower seeds produced from conventional
farming as compared to those from organic farming. All material
and energy consumptions are allocated according to the mass of
the sunflower oil and sunflower cake, considering that after press-
ing 1 kg of sunflower seeds, oil (33%) and cake (67%) are generated.
The straw produced from the agricultural phase was not consid-
ered in the analysis, assuming it can be left on field not to decrease
the soil content of organic matter. In so doing, the largest costs are
allocated to the cake meal, which calls for its suitable use as animal
feedstock (rich with proteins). No allocation was done in emergy
accounting procedure, according to the fact that, in the presence of
co-products, the emergy algebra assigns the total emergy to each
one of them [18,19]. We didn’t take into account Direct/Indirect
Land Use Change because sunflower crops are usually cultivated
on the lands under study. Finally, the substitution of sunflower oil
instead of diesel oil as energy source in a Combined Heat and Power
plant (CHP) was evaluated. The CHP plant consisted of an engine
(MAN 420 kWhe/450 kWht) powered by vegetable oil (8000 h of
operation per year). The CHP and the extraction plant are located
in a farm of the Province of Siena.
2.2.1. Material Flow Accounting
The Material Flow Accounting method evaluates the environ-
mental disturbance associated with the withdrawal or diversion of
material flows of resources from the ecosystem [20,21]. Material
Intensity Factor (MIF) (g/unit) is multiplied by each input, respec-
tively, accounting for the total amount of abiotic matter, water and
air matter directly or indirectly required for the production of a
unit of product. The resulting material intensities of the individual
inputs are then separately summed and assigned to the system’s
output.
2.2.2. Embodied Energy Analysis
The Embodied Energy Analysis method deals with the gross
energy requirement of the analyzed system. The method accounts
for the amount of energy that is required directly and indirectly
by the process for making goods or providing a service [22]. All
the material and energy inputs to the investigated system are
multiplied by appropriate oil equivalent factors (g oil/unit); the
 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602 1597

Table 1
Physical characteristics of vegetable oil [2,5].

Oil Density at 20 ◦ Ca Flash point (◦ C)b Cetane numberc NCV (kJ/kg)d Kinematic viscosity (mm2 /s)e

Diesel 836 93 50 43,800 3-7.5

Cotton oil 921 243 35-40 36,780 73
Palm 915 280 38-40 36,920 95-106
Rapeseed 915 320 32-36 37,400 77
Sunflower 925 316 35-37 37,750 55-61
Soybean 920 330 36–38 37,300 58–63
a
Density: needs to be taken into account to adjust fuel flow rates [2].
b
Flash point: minimum temperature at which the vapours given off by a product, under standardized conditions, ignite when exposed to a flame [2].
c
Cetane number: it characterizes the time between injection and combustion in a diesel engine [2].
d
Net calorific value (NCV): it determines fuel consumption and largely the amount of heat given off, along with engine performance [5,15].
e
Kinematic viscosity: it increases in line with unsaturation, carbon chain lenghts and decrease in temperature [2,15].

cumulative embodied energy requirement of the system’s output
was calculated as the sum of the individual oil equivalents of the
input flows and can be converted to energy units by multiplying by
the higher heating value (HHV) of diesel oil (43.0 MJ/kg diesel oil)
[23]. The CO2 emissions were estimated by multiplying the embod-
ied energy used by the CO2 emissions of oil fuel (3.18 kg CO2 /kg oil
fuel).
2.2.3. Emergy Accounting
The Emergy Accounting method also looks at the environmental
performance of the system on the global scale, but this time also
taking into account environmental inputs such as sunlight, wind,
rain, as well as the indirect environmental support embodied in
human labour and services [18,19]. All inputs are accounted for in
terms of their solar emergy, defined as the total amount of solar
available energy (exergy) that was directly or indirectly required
to make a given product or to support a given flow, and measured
in solar equivalent Joules (seJ). The amount of emergy that was
originally required to provide one unit of each input is referred
to as its specific emergy (seJ/unit) or transformity (seJ/J), and can
be considered a “quality” factor which functions as a measure of
the intensity of the support provided by the biosphere to the input
under study. The specific emergy or transformity of the system’s
output are calculated as the ratio of the total emergy embodied in
the necessary inputs to the system to the output mass or available
energy content, respectively. The total emergy requirement thus
calculated can be interpreted as an indication of the total appro-
priation of environmental services by the analyzed human activity.
The renewability (%) is the ratio between renewable emergy and
the total emergy used by the system. The Emergy Loading Ratio
(ELR) is the ratio of imported and locally non renewable emergy to
the locally renewable one and can be used to suggest the level of
sustainability of a process (namely its loading on the local environ-
ment).
2.2.4. Life Cycle Assessment
A life cycle assessment is a technique used to assess each and
every impact associated with all the stages of a process from cradle-
to-grave (i.e., from raw materials through materials processing,
manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and dis-
posal or recycling). The procedure of life cycle assessment are
part of the ISO 14040/2006, which replaces respectively the ISO
14040-14041-14042 norms, and ISO 14044/2006, which replaced
the previous ISO 14043 norm [24,25]. According to the ISO stan-
dards a life cycle assessment is carried out in four distinct phases:
(1) Goal and scope of the study, which sets out the context of
the study and explains how and to whom the results are to be
communicated; (2) Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis involves

Table 2
Mass flows in the sunflower oil production line from the conventional farming.

Flow and Unit Amount Material Mass abiotic Material Mass water Material Mass air References
per ha per intensity global intensity global scale intensity (air) global scale
year (abiotic) scale (g) (water) (g) (g/unit) (g)
(g/unit) (g/unit)

Agricultural phase
a
Loss of topsoil (g) 1.39E+02 0.66 9.17E+01 0.30 4.17E+01 0.00 0.00E+00 Nitrogen
Nitrogen fertilizer (g) 1.14E+05 1.10 1.25E+05 0.00 0.00E+00 0.00 0.00E+00 [26]
Phosphate fertilizer (g) 9.20E+04 3.44 3.16E+05 23.30 2.14E+06 1.29 1.19E+05 [29]
Insecticide, pesticide, erbicide (g) 9.60E+02 1.10 1.06E+03 0.00 0.00E+00 0.00 0.00E+00 [26]
Diesel (g) 1.15E+05 1.36 1.57E+05 9.70 1.12E+06 3.40 3.92E+05 [30]
Lubricants (g) 4.05E+02 2.00 8.10E+02 11.20 4.54E+03 4.72 1.91E+03 [30]
Steel for agricultural machine (g) 2.17E+02 8.14 1.77E+03 63.71 1.38E+04 0.44 9.54E+01 [30]
Seeds (g) 3.58E+03 2.52 9.01E+03 1240.18 4.43E+06 2.42 8.65E+03 [26]
Total mass per ha per yr 3.27E+05 6.11E+05 7.71E+06 5.22E+05
b
Sunflower seeds produced (g) 2.00E+06 0.31 6.11E+05 3.86 7.71E+06 0.26 5.22E+05 Industrial
phase–Sunflower
Industrial phase – sunflower oil extraction
Diesel for transport (g) 3.99E+04 1.36 5.42E+04 9.70 3.87E+05 3.40 1.36E+05 [30]
Steel for plant machinery (g) 1.80E−01 8.14 1.47E−01 63.71 1.15E+01 0.44 7.94E−02 [30]
*
Process electricity (kWh) 2.09 6.31E−01 5.86 1.77E+00 0.37 1.12E−01 [31]
Total mass (g) 3.67E+05 6.66E+05 8.10E+06 6.57E+05
Products and By-products
b
Sunflower oil produced (g) 6.60E+05 2.20E+05 2.67E+06 2.17E+05 Sunflower
b
Sunflower cake (g) 1.34E+06 4.46E+05 5.43E+06 4.40E+05 Total
b
Total mass for the production of 5.55E−01 1.01E+00 1.23E+01 9.96E−01 Industrial
vegetable oil (g/g sunflower oil) phase–Sunflower
a
By definition.
b
Calculation performed in this work.
*
No significant mass associated to this item within the local scale of investigation.
1598 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602

Table 3
Energy flows in the sunflower oil production line from the conventional farming.

Flow and Unit Amount per ha per Oil equivalent References Global oil demand Global energy Global CO2
year (g oil/unit) (g oil equivalent) demand (J) emission (g CO2 )

Agricultural phase
Nitrogen fertilizer (g) 1.14E+05 1.77 [32] 2.02E+05 8.68E+09 6.42E+05
Phosphate fertilizer (g) 9.20E+04 0.32 [32] 2.94E+04 1.27E+09 9.36E+04
Insecticide, pesticide, erbicide (g) 9.60E+02 1.27 [32] 1.22E+03 5.24E+07 3.88E+03
Diesel (g) 1.15E+05 1.27 [32] 1.46E+05 6.28E+09 4.64E+05
Lubricants (g) 4.05E+02 2.00 [32] 8.10E+02 3.48E+07 2.58E+03
Steel for agricultural machine (g) 2.17E+02 1.95 [32] 4.23E+02 1.82E+07 1.35E+03
Seeds (g) 3.58E+03 0.09 [33] 3.22E+02 1.39E+07 1.02E+03
Total 3.80E+05 1.63E+10 1.21E+06
a
Sunflower seeds produced (g) 2.00E+06 0.19 3.80E+05 1.63E+10 1.21E+06
Energy investment ratio (MJ/g seeds) 8.17E−03
Energy investment ratio (g oil 5.76E−01
equivalent/g sunflower oil)
g CO2 /g sunflower oil 1.83E+00
Industrial phase – Sunflower oil Extraction
Diesel for transport (g) 3.99E+04 1.27 [32] 5.06E+04 2.18E+09 1.61E+05
Steel for plant machinery (g) 1.80E−01 1.90 [32] 3.43E−01 1.47E+04 1.09E+00
Process electricity (J) 1.08E+06 6.97E−08 [34] 7.56E−02 3.25E+03 2.40E−01
Total 4.31E+05 1.85E+10 1.37E+06
Products and By-products
Sunflower oil (g) 6.60E+05 1.42E+05 6.11E+09 4.52E+05
Sunflower cake (g) 1.34E+06 2.89E+05 1.24E+10 9.18E+05
a
Calculation performed in this work.

creating an inventory of flows from and to nature for a product sys-
tem; (3) Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is aimed at evaluating
the significance of potential environmental impacts based on the
LCI flow results; (4) Interpretation should include identification of
significant issues, evaluation of the study (completeness, sensitiv-
ity and consistency checks) and conclusions. Life Cycle Assessment
was conducted using the Eco-indicator 99 method and the software
SimaPro 7.1 [26].
2.2.4.1. Eco-Indicator 99 method. The method used for compar-
ing and presenting results is Eco-Indicator 99, which includes the
capability of analysis through damage evaluation step and can be
used for the estimation of various environmental impacts. The final
results can be shown in a single score. The categories that have been
chosen as the main receivers of environmental impacts are [27]:
(a) Damages to human health, expressed in Disability Adjusted Life
Years or DALYs and include the impact categories of Carcinogens,
Respiratory effects, Climate change, Ionising radiation and Ozone
layer depletion, (b) Damages to ecosystem quality, expressed in
number of species lost in a certain area during a certain period of
time (expressed as PDF × m2 × yr) and include impact categories
of Land use, Acidification, Eutrophication and Ecotoxicity and (c)
Depletion of resources, expressed as MJ surplus energy required
for future fossil fuel and minerals extraction. The Eco-indicator 99
methodology was chosen because is an LCA weighting method spe-
cially developed for product design. This method has proved to be
a powerful tool for designers to aggregate LCA results into easily
understandable and user-friendly numbers or units, the so-called
Eco-indicators.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Material Flow Accounting
The direct material consumption was 5.55E+02 g/kg of
sunflower oil and the cumulative material consumption was
1.43E+04 g/kg of sunflower oil. The agricultural phase requires a
higher direct and cumulative amount of material flows compared
to the other steps, respectively, 1.63E+02 g/kg and 4.42E+03 g/kg of
sunflower seeds. In particular, the agricultural phase on LCA scale
assesses for the 91.9% of mass abiotic, 95.2% of mass water and
79.4% of mass air. These results are due to the use in the agricultural
phase of the largest amount of input flows directly or indirectly
dependent upon the global availability of the fossil fuels and other
minerals, both non-renewable resources, like fertilizers and diesel
oil for agricultural machines. Agriculture is the stage that uses
the largest amount of input flows also according to Cavalett and
Ortega, who investigated the biodiesel production from soybean
oil in modern industrialized agriculture [28]. Rainwater was not
considered as mass input flow because MFA only accounts for input
that are diverted from natural pathway or that are significantly
altered. Table 2 shows the material flows for the sunflower oil
production line.
3.2. Embodied Energy Analysis
The Embodied Energy Analysis showed that the production of
1 kg of sunflower oil in the Province of Siena, required 5.76E+02 g
of crude oil equivalent as energy input (Table 3). The CO2 emissions
for kg of sunflower oil, 1.83E+00 kg, were estimated by multiply-
ing the embodied energy used by the unit CO2 emissions of oil fuel
(3.18 kg CO2 /kg oil fuel according to combustion stoichiometry).
The agricultural phase released the higher amount of carbon diox-
ide of the sunflower oil production line. For agricultural phase the
energy requirement is mainly due to mineral nitrogen fertilizers
(53.1%) and diesel oil (38.4%). These results are according to our
previous study in the case of biodiesel production line from sun-
flower [35]. Total energy use for sunflower oil extraction was due
to diesel oil required for the sunflower seeds transportation (99%).
3.3. Emergy Accounting
The Emergy Accounting method quantifies the renewability and
sustainability of sunflower oil since it includes not only inputs and
services from the economy, but also resources from nature.
In the agricultural phase there is the main renewable inputs
used and in the extraction phase dominates non-renewable inputs.
Rain water, not considered as mass input in the agricultural phase,
was considered as an energy input from nature like sunlight. Our
results demonstrated that the agricultural phase was responsible
for the highest fraction of resources used as compared to the extrac-
tion phase. Table 4 shows the emergy flows for the sunflower oil
 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602 1599

A 1,00 E-03

8,00 E-04

6,00 E-04
person*year/kg fuels

4,00 E-04

2,00 E-04

0,00 E+00
Carcinog. Resp. Resp. Climate Radiation Ozone Ecotox . Acid./Eutr. Land use Minerals Fossil fuels
organics inorganics change layer

-2,00 E-04

Conventional farming Organic farming

B 120

100

80

60

40
%

20

Human Health Ecosystem Quality Resources

-20

-40

-60

-80

Conventional farming Organic farming

Fig. 1. Environmental impacts on relative scale: (A) according to the impact categories (Carcinogens, Respiratory organics, Respiratory inorganics, Climate change, Radiation,
Ozone layer, Ecotoxicity, Acidification/Eutrophication, Land use, Minerals and Fossil fuels) and (B) to the main impact categories (Human health, Ecosystem quality and
resources).

production line. A specific emergy of 3.46E+12 seJ/kg was calcu-
lated for sunflower seeds as such. Sunflower oil was produced in
the extraction phase, with a specific emergy of 1.05E+13 seJ/kg.
Excluding additional services (taxes and negative externalities),
and converting specific emergy (seJ/kg) to transformity (seJ/J) the
resulting value is 6.22E+04 seJ/J. This value is lower than those
calculated by Odum [18] for fossil fuels (coal, 6.70E+04 seJ/J; nat-
ural gas, 8.04E+04 seJ/J; oil, 9.05E+04 seJ/J; gasoline and diesel,
1.11E+05 seJ/J) and for other biofuels assessed by Giampietro and
Ulgiati [37] (Ethanol from sugarcane, 1.86E+05 to 3.15E+05 seJ/J;
biodiesel from sunflower, 2.31E+05 seJ/J), indicating that sunflower
oil in our local production system has a lower demand for resources
than other energy sources considered in literature. The Envi-
ronmental Loading Ratio showed that the non-renewable and
imported emergy was about 2.23 times higher than renewable
emergy for the sunflower oil. The Renewability calculated for the
sunflower oil is, in fact, 33.6%. These values are substantially in
agreement with the results by Takahashi and Ortega for sunflower
1600 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602

Table 4
Emergy flows in the sunflower oil production line from the conventional farming.

Flow and Unit Amount per ha per yr Transformity (seJ/unit) References Emergy (se J/ha yr)

Agricultural phase
a
Sunlight (J) 5.50E+13 1.00E+00 5.50E+13
Rain water (J) 1.77E+10 3.06E+04 [18] 5.41E+14
Deep heat (J) 3.00E+10 5.76E+04 [18] 1.73E+15
Loss of topsoil (J) 3.14E+06 1.24E+05 [19] 3.90E+11
Nitrogen fertilizer (g) 1.14E+05 6.37E+09 [18] 7.26E+14
Phosphate fertilizer (g) 9.20E+04 6.55E+09 [18] 6.03E+14
Insecticide, pesticide, erbicide (g) 9.60E+02 2.48E+10 [35] 2.38E+13
Diesel (J) 4.95E+09 1.10E+05 [18] 5.44E+14
Lubricants (J) 1.74E+07 1.10E+05 [18] 1.92E+12
Steel for agricultural machine (g) 2.17E+02 1.13E+10 [19] 2.45E+12
Seeds (g) 3.58E+03 5.87E+04 [26] 2.10E+08
Human labor (yrs) 9.80E−04 1.07E+16 [19] 1.05E+13
Annual services ($) 8.85E+02 3.70E+12 [19] 3.27E+15
Total Emergy (seJ) 6.91E+15
Products
b
Sunflower seeds (g) 2.00E+06 3.46E+09 6.91E+15
Industrial phase – Sunflower oil Extraction
Diesel for transport (g) 3.99E+04 1.10E+05 [18] 4.39E+09
Steel for plant machinery (g) 1.80E−01 1.13E+10 [19] 2.04E+09
Process electricity (J) 1.08E+06 2.51E+05 [18] 2.71E+11
Total Emergy (seJ) 6.91E+15
Products and By-products
b
Sunflower oil (g) 6.60E+05 1.05E+10 6.91E+15
Sunflower oil (J) 1.11E+11 6.22E+04 [36] 6.91E+15
b
Sunflower cake (g) 1.34E+06 5.16E+09 6.91E+15
b
Environmental loading ratio 2.23
b
Renewability (%) 33.6
a
By definition.
b
Calculation performed in this work.

crops because the agricultural phase was responsible for the high- 3.4. Life Cycle Assessment
est fraction of resources used in the production line [38]. As a
consequence, in spite of relatively good values obtained, further Life Cycle Assessment was used to evaluate environmental per-
optimization procedures are necessary to achieve a more sustain- formance of sunflower oil production row in a provincial area
able process for sunflower oil production in order to reduce the (Siena province) from sunflower seeds produced from conventional
dependence on non-renewable energy. farming as compared to those from organic farming. Analysis was
conducted with an approach “cradle-to-gate”. Data of sunflower
Table 5
seeds produced from conventional farming and organic farming
Input and output data for the production of sunflower seeds from conventional are listed in Table 5. Performance data for the oil extraction are the
farming and organic farming. same for the two methods of farming practice considered. The func-
Flow and Unit Amount per ha per Amount per ha per
tional unit for the methodology was 1 kg of sunflower oil produced.
yr (conventional yr (organic Analysis highlighted that land use category largely dominated
farming) farming) all the others categories. Only for this category the impact of organic
Nitrogen fertilizer (g) 1.14E+05 – farming is higher than that of conventional farming, because in
Phosphate fertilizer (g) 9.20E+04 – order to obtain the same yield, more land is occupied. Our results
Insecticide, pesticide, erbicide (g) 9.60E+02 – after normalization step demonstrated that sunflower oil from
Diesel (g) 1.15E+05 8.91E+04
organic farming is the fuel with the smallest fossil fuel con-
Lubricants (g) 4.05E+02 3.15E+02
Steel for agricultural machine (g) 2.17E+02 2.17E+02
sumption. However, some impacts on human health, especially
Seeds (g) 3.58E+03 4.00E+03 respiratory, must also be taken into account. The environmen-
Yield (t) 2.00 1.40 tal impacts after normalization step are presented in Fig. 1A. The
impact assessment method chosen is Eco-Indicator 99. Results
were expressed as numerical value for damage to human health,
Table 6
Damage to human health, ecosystem quality and resources expressed as single score. ecosystem quality and resources (Table 6). Sunflower oil produc-
tion from sunflower seeds produced from conventional farming
Damage category Unit Conventional Organic farming
showed a higher impact on resources consumption and human
farming
health due to emissions for the production of fertilizers necessary
Human Health DALY 6.17E−07 −3.43E−07 in the agricultural phase and to the petroleum refinery processes
Ecosystem quality PDF m2 year 3.84E+00 4.75E+00
Resources MJ Surplus energy 7.67E−01 4.02E−01
by emissions on air and waste water. Results were also expressed
as percentage value for damage to human health, ecosystem qual-
ity and resources (Fig. 1B). Sunflower seeds from organic farming
Table 7 produced less impact on human health and resources consump-
Emissions and fuel consumption for the engine (MAN 420 kWhe/450 kWht) fed to
tion. The use of organic farming for the production of sunflower
sunflower oil and diesel oil.
seeds could potentially lead to environmental benefits because
Type Fuel Fuel (kg/kWh) kg CO2 /kg fuel Emissions (kg CO2 /kWh) of non-use of mineral fertilizers despite of lower yield obtained.
Diesel oil 2.02E−01 3.18E+00 6.42E−01 However, a higher pressure on ecosystem quality results from the
Sunflower oil 2.10E−01 1.83E+00 3.84E−01 larger demand of land.
 D. Spinelli et al. / Process Biochemistry 47 (2012) 1595–1602
3.5. Sunflower oil vs Diesel oil in CHP plant
The carbon dioxide emissions and energy efficiency of the CHP
plant due to use of sunflower oil versus diesel oil were evalu-
ated. Since the higher calorific value of sunflower oil (37.0 MJ/kg)
is less than for diesel oil (43.0 MJ/kg), its use as fuel in CHP plant
increased the fuel consumption of about 4%. Because of the com-
bined effect of lower CO2 emissions due to the vegetable substrate
used and the slightly larger fuel demand, the carbon dioxide emis-
sions for kWh produced by sunflower oil resulted 59% lower than
for diesel oil (Table 7). The co-generated heat (3.60E+06 kWh/year)
was used for heating local greenhouse and farm holidays. The elec-
tricity produced (3.36E+06 kWh/year) was sent to national electric
grid.
4. Conclusions
This work provided an environmental and thermodynamic eval-
uation of the sunflower oil production at the local scale of the
province of Siena (Tuscany) and evaluated the CO2 emissions and
other LCA impact categories by its use as alternative fuel to diesel oil
in a CHP plant. Embodied Energy Analysis, Material Flow Account-
ing and Emergy Accounting were used in order to assess the
environmental impact of the whole sunflower oil production. The
largest impacts and uses of resources of sunflower oil production
came from the cultivation of sunflower seeds and were due to the
use of mineral fertilizers and the fuel for agricultural machinery.
The Emergy accounting method showed quantitatively that sun-
flower oil cannot yet be considered a fully renewable energy source.
The calculated Transformity, however, indicates that sunflower oil
presents lower demand for resources than other biofuels and fossil
fuels from literature. Our results are in substantial agreement with
the results of other recent studies already mentioned above. More-
over, substitution of mineral fertilizers with organic ones and the
use of pure or blends sunflower oil in diesel engines for agricultural
machines and transports are useful to achieve a more sustain-
able process and to reduce the dependence from non-renewable
energy.
Results from Life Cycle Assessment showed that the production
of sunflower oil from organic sunflower seeds reduce the amount
of fossil fuels consumption in respect to those from conventional
farming. Results also showed a huge land demand per unit of sun-
flower oil delivered, which is a clear indicator that biofuels are not
the optimal solution on wide scale. However biofuels could be a
good alternative to fossil fuel if the whole cycle (farming, extrac-
tion and use) takes place on the farm in a limited area where energy
crops come in rotation with food crops. If sunflower oil is used
instead of diesel oil as energy source in a CHP plant to cover the
combination of electricity and heat demand of the farm, a signifi-
cant reduction of CO2 can be obtained.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the S.I.En.A Project 2008-2009
(Integrated Development of Renewable Energy in Agriculture) to
R.B. The project was coordinated by ARSIA and financed by Regione
Toscana and Fondazione MPS. D.S. is recipient of a grant made avail-
able by CSGI. Careful reading and revising of the manuscript by
Professor Emeritus Les Brooks, Sonoma State University is grate-
fully acknowledged.
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