Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Life Cycle Assessment of rice husk as an energy source. A Peruvian

case study
Isabel Quispe a, b, *, Rodrigo Navia b, c, d, Ramzy Kahhat a
a
Peruvian LCA Network, Department of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Cato
lica del Perú, Avenida Universitaria 1801, San Miguel 15088, Peru
b
Scientific and Technological Bioresources Nucleus, University of La Frontera, P.O. Box 54-D, Temuco, Chile
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of La Frontera, P.O. Box 54-D, Temuco, Chile
d
Center for Biotechnology & Bioengineering (CeBiB), University of La Frontera, P.O. Box 54-D, Temuco, Chile

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

Article history: Energy consumption linked to non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels contributes to greenhouse
Received 22 May 2017 gas emissions and increases resource depletion. In this context, the use of agricultural solid residues such
Received in revised form as rice husk, coffee husk, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, among others, has been widely studied as an
26 October 2018
alternative energy source in order to decrease the use of fossil fuels. In Peru, up to 693,308 metric tons of
Accepted 28 October 2018
Available online 29 October 2018
rice husk is generated annually and at present, 85% is burned in the open air or disposed in rivers,
harming human health and contaminating our environment. On the other hand, official Peruvian energy
policy is to incorporate the use of renewable energy sources, such as agricultural residues. Consequently,
Keywords:
Agricultural residues
the aim of the study is to perform a technical and environmental assessment of the production of energy
Life Cycle Assessment from rice husk as an alternative energy source to coal in Peru. Rice husk from Peru was characterized to
Paddy identify its physical properties and chemical composition. In order to perform the environmental
Peru assessment, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was employed. LCA is a standardized methodology to identify
Rice husk and quantify the environmental impacts from initial obtention of materials, through production, dis-
tribution and use to final disposal (ISO 14040, 2006 and ISO 14044, 2006). Four scenarios were evaluated,
varying in paddy rice yield and dryer efficiency. The results show that the environmental impacts to
obtain 1 MJ from rice husk, including elements in the global warming, acidification and eutrophication
categories, are less than that from 1 MJ obtained from coal, 97%, 88% and 80% less, respectively. However,
the opposite was found in water depletion, with the use of coal to generate heat having a 98% better
impact over rice husk.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In developing countries, large amounts of biomass such as rice

After the Paris agreement (United Nations, 2015), governments
reaffirmed their commitment to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions
with the aim of not contributing to global warming. One of the
goals is to use less fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, coal in
combustion processes since this is one of the main causes of global
warming (IPCC, 2006). To face this challenge, the alternative of
using available biomass, including agricultural solid residues, to
obtain energy (Vitali et al., 2013; Shafie et al., 2012a,b), presents
some advantages as the mitigation of gaseous emissions of CO2, SOx
and NOx (Saidur et al., 2011).
* Corresponding author. Peruvian LCA Network, Department of Engineering,
Pontificia Universidad Cato
lica del Perú, Avenida Universitaria 1801, San Miguel
15088, Peru.
E-mail address: iquispe@pucp.edu.pe (I. Quispe).
husk, straw, nut shells, fruit shells, fruit seeds, plant stems, green
leaves and molasses are produced annually, but little is recuperated
(Okeh et al., 2014). It is important to identify the physical properties
and chemical composition of agricultural residues in order to select
the technology suitable to obtain energy (McKendry, 2002a,b;
Quispe et al., 2017). Worldwide, the estimated amount of rice
husk available reaches 134 million metric tons per year, with an
energy potential of 2010 PJ (Quispe et al., 2017). Rice husk is a
residue generated in paddy processing to obtain rice and it is
considered as one of the largest residues, ranging from 20% to 33%
by weight of the paddy rice (Shafie et al., 2012a,b; Lim et al., 2012).
It is estimated that 693,308 metric tons of rice husk is generated
annually in Peru (based on data from MINAGRI, 2016).
The technologies studied to obtain energy from rice husk are
direct combustion, gasification and pyrolysis (Lim et al., 2012;
Goyal et al., 2008; McKendry, 2002a,b). Worldwide, the most

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.312
0959-6526/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1236 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244

studied and used technology is direct combustion, while fast py-

rolysis is a promising new technology (Goyal et al., 2008; Caputo
et al., 2005). However, due to economic viability and availability
of knowledge, the simplest and most appropriate technology to
adapt and use in developing countries, where the availability of rice
husk is too limited for electrical energy production, is still direct
combustion using a fluidized bed for drying processes (Fang et al.,
2004; Madhiyanon et al., 2010; Duan et al., 2013; Quispe et al.,
2017).
On the other hand, previous studies have performed qualitative
environmental analyses on energy obtained from rice husk,
including the advantages and disadvantages. The most common
advantages are: CO2 net emissions are equal to zero in the com-
bustion stage (McKendry, 2002a,b; Demirbas et al., 2009), fewer
hazardous emissions such as NOx, CH4, SOx and CO than from fossil
fuels due to very low S and N contents (Saidur et al., 2011), and
energy use increases the added value of agricultural residues.
Some of the disadvantages that have been identified are: i)
handling and transport of agricultural residues because of their low
density (Khan et al., 2009) and ii) possible corrosion, fouling and
slagging inside the direct combustion equipment due to the de-
posits of ash on furnace walls (Saidur et al., 2011; Demirbas et al.,
2009). Although this kind of analysis helps to identify the envi-
ronmental aspects, it is necessary to supplement it with quantita-
tive environmental assessment with a life cycle focus.
Peru is an agro-industrial country where more than 16 million
metric tons of agricultural residues are generated annually (Felix and
Rosell, 2010) and rice husk is one of the main residues. Rice is
cultivated in different regions of Peru, reaching up to 399,500
cultivated hectares and an annual production of 3,151,400 metric
tons (MINAGRI, 2017a,b). The Peruvian North Coast was selected as Fig. 1. Geographic location of paddy production in Peru.
the study area (Piura, Lambayeque and La Libertad) because it con-
centrates 41% of the country’s total production, as is shown in Fig. 1.
The annual production of paddy, i.e. unmilled rice in the regions methodology to identify and quantify the environmental aspects
of Lambayeque, Piura and La Libertad are 455,188 metric tons, and potential impacts of every stage of the life cycle, from obtaining
503,241 metric tons and 344,536 metric tons, respectively resources and materials, production, distribution, usage to final
(MINAGRI, 2017a,b). Rice, or Oryza Sativa, of Asiatic origin, is a grass disposal (ISO, 2006). According to international standard ISO
plant with a phenological development of 150 days (MINAGRI, 14040, an LCA is an iterative cycle of knowledge and optimization
2012a,b; Orbegoso and Prado, 2013) divided in three periods: comprising the following steps: objective and scope, inventory
vegetative, reproductive and maturity. According to unpublished assessment, impact assessment and interpretation.
records developed by the National Institute of Agricultural Inno- In the first step of determining the objective and scope, the
vation, the pH of the soil of the study area is slightly basic (7.1e7.6) limits of the study system are defined as well as the functional unit.
with a texture of sandy loam soil and clay loam soil, low in organic The inventory assessment identifies inputs and outputs of each
matter (0.43%e2.78%), moderate in phosphorus unitary process of the system. In the impact assessment step, po-
(6.20 ppme7.70 ppm) and high in potassium (306 ppme412 ppm). tential environmental impacts are evaluated, based on the in-
The temperature ranges from 20
C to 35
C and the humidity from ventory analysis. In general, this process involves associating
72% to 84% (MINAGRI, 2012a,b). Since 2010, in several areas of the inventory data with specific environmental impacts. To process the
northern coast of Peru, rice yield has had an increase of 2% per year. information, generally, informatics support is used such as SimaPro,
In 2015, the rice yield reached between 8.5 t/ha and 9.5 t/ha Umberto, GaBi, among other.
(Altamirano, 2017; APEAR, 2010, MINAGRI, 2017a,b) due to the Finally, the interpretation stage integrates the findings of the
support of the National Institute of Agricultural Innovation and the inventory analysis and impact assessment. The findings of the
Water Users Board (INIA, 2014; INIA, 2015). interpretation may take the form of conclusions and recommen-
The purpose of this study is to perform a technical and envi- dations consistent with the objective and scope of the study.
ronmental assessment, based on the Life Cycle Assessment meth-
odology, on the production of energy from rice husk for drying 2.1. Goal of the study
processes in Peru, as an alternative to coal.
The selected case study is important because 41% of paddy rice is The goal of the study is to compare the environmental impacts
generated in the study area and there would be an opportunity to of obtaining energy from rice husk and from coal for drying pro-
contribute to implementing Peruvian energy policy which is pro- cesses in Peru and to take decisions in the productive sector to
moting the use of renewable energy from different sources such as contribute to the sustainability.
the agricultural residues (García, 2013).
2.2. Scope of the study
2. Methodology
The functional unit was identified as 1 MJ. The scope of the study
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an international standardized was established to begin with the extraction and processing of raw
 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244
material to the energy production phase for both systems (i.e. rice
husk and coal). The energy production phase is by direct combus-
tion as can be shown in Fig. 2.
In the rice husk system, primary source information was obtained
from interviews with farmers, technical professionals, representa-
tives of farmers’ cooperatives and mill owners in order to know the
activities carried out in the agricultural and milling phases.
To calculate the environmental impacts, the scope of the agri-
cultural phase was considered from seedling stage to harvest stage
including the production and transport of fertilizers, pesticides and
herbicides applied to the paddies as well as the production of diesel
fuel used (see Fig. 2). In Peru, all inorganic fertilizers, herbicides and
pesticides are imported and principally from Russia, China and
United States (MINAGRI, 2011, 2012a,b, 2013 Va
zquez-Rowe et al.,
2016).
The milling phase includes the stages from cleaning to polishing.
Moreover, the processing and transport of paddy rice as well as the
production of electricity and system outputs have been included as
part of the milling phase.
On the other hand, the coal system boundaries considered the
extraction and processing phase of coal and the energy production
phase. The coal used in the study area comes mainly from the “San
Benito” mine located 400 km from the mills. To calculate the
environmental impacts of the extraction and processing phase of
the coal, the Ecoinvent database version 3.1 was used as Hard Coal
{RoW} production (Weidema et al., 2013; Dones et al., 2007). Sec-
ondary source information and literature were used to model the
transport from mine to mills. In addition, for both systems, sec-
ondary source information from literature was used for the energy
production phase.
A set of four impact categories for the environmental assess-
ment of this study were considered: global warming potential
Fig. 2. System boundaries. Rice husk system (a). Coal system (b).
1237
(GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP)
and water depletion (WD). GWP was used because of specific goals
to reduce the GHG emissions. Moreover, developing countries, in
which most of the worldwide rice production concentrates, are
now obliged to comply with the GHG emissions reduction objec-
tives signed in the Paris Agreement (United Nations, 2015). On the
other hand, EP and AP were included because agriculture is an
important contributor to these categories (Hokazono and Hayashi,
2012). The water depletion category was used because water is an
important resource in the coast of Peru where there is water
scarcity and the rainfalls reach only 100 mm annually.
In addition, the Net Energy Ratio (NER) will be used to under-
stand the energy balance of the rice husk system (Fagnart and
Germain, 2016).
In order to assess each category, the following characterization
methods were used:
a) Global Warming Potential for a 100-year time horizon
(GWP100) from IPCC (2013)
b) Acidification Potential (AP) from CML (Heijungs et al., 1992)
c) Eutrophication Potential (EP) from CML (Heijungs et al.,
1992)
d) Water depletion (WD) from Recipe (Goedkoop et al., 2008)
2.3. Inventory and data collection
The inventory of the rice husk system took into consideration
the agricultural, milling and energy production phases. The unit
processes of each phase were considered as well as the inputs from
nature and the technosphere, and outputs generated. Additionally,
mills on the North Coast of Peru were visited to identify the inputs
1238 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244
and outputs of obtaining rice husk.
The agricultural phase has three stages: seedling, crop in
definitive field and harvest (Abril et al., 2009; Orbegoso and Prado,
2013). The seedling yield is 1:20, i.e. one hectare of seedling yields
twenty hectares of crop in definitive field.
Generally, paddy planting occurs once per year because of the
limited availability of water on the Peruvian Coast, seeding is done
from January to March and the harvest is from May to August. Two
field studies were done in the North of Peru to visit the paddy crop
fields and to interview the main rice farmers and the president of
the Board of Water Users of Lambayeque.
According to interviews and the literature (Orbegoso and Prado,
2013; Heros, 2013; Bruzzone and Heros, 2011) the resources
consumed in the agricultural phase include diesel fuel, seed, water,
fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. In order to quantify inputs and
outputs in the agricultural phase, a survey was developed including
questions about resources consumption as well as agronomic
handling, usage of machines, paddy yield per hectare and gener-
ated waste. To prepare the soil it is necessary to use three kinds of
similar machineries: the farming tractor which is used to flip the
soil and to crumble clods, farming disc tractor which is used for
tilling the wet soil, after which the tilled, wet fields are leveled with
a rear-mounted tractor blade (the farming tractor with blade).
Operation of these equipment have been included in this study,
considering diesel fuel production and use. Seeds are bought in two
seedbeds located in the study area, these are certificated seed, the
most commonly used of which are: IR43 and Tinajones.
The transport of fertilizer was modelled considering the main
fertilizers suppliers such as Russia for urea, Belgium for potassium
sulphate and United States for ammonium sulphate and dia-
mmonium phosphate. It was assumed direct marine freight from
country of origin to port of Salaverry located in La Libertad
(Agrodataperu, 2017; García, 2016).
The harvest is mechanized, performed by the majority of the
farmers (90% according to Bruzzone and Heros, 2011) and the
machinery is known as “combinada”. All the machinery is typically
rented by the farmers, because in the Peruvian Coast there is one
production per year and this situation could cause pest problems if
the machinery were not well maintained and cleaned. The quan-
tities by type of fertilizers, time used by type of machinery and li-
ters of fuel consumed per hectare are shown in Table 1.
The water resource is very significant, considering that in the
Peruvian Coast the discharge of the rivers determines the avail-
ability of this resource. The Chira, Santa and Tumbes rivers have
abundant water, whereas the Chancay and Jequetepeque rivers
have a limited amount. In that situation, the Poechos (Piura), San
Lorenzo (Piura), Gallito Ciego (Cajamarca) and Tinajones
Table 1
Fertilizers, fuel and hours-machinery consumed per hectare.
Unit Seeding (haa)
Fertilization
Urea kg 832
Ammonium Sulphate (AS) kg 554
Diammonium phosphate (DAP) kg 110
Potassium Sulphate kg e 200
Herbicide kg 56
Pesticide kg 8 0.8
Machinery
Farming tractor h 4
Farming disc tractor h 3
Rear-mounted tractor blade h 4
Machinery “combinada” h 4
Fuel
Diesel l 83.3
a
One hectre of seeding is equivalent to twenty hectares of crop in definitive field.
(Lambayeque) reservoirs and dams help to provide water in partial
drought. The study area principally consumes water from Tinajones
and San Lorenzo reservoirs, which have a storage capacity of 385
million m3 and 115 million m3of water, respectively (MINAGRI,
2012a,b). In addition, the rice crop has good growth and nutri-
tional value in flooded soils whose system is very efficient for air
flow, with a high consumption of water.
One of the major difficulties in cultivating paddy is the insuffi-
cient or inconsistent water supply, which sometimes delays the
start of paddy rice production or affects the results. The con-
sumption of materials and fuel as well as the quantities and models
to calculate emissions in the crop fields from using fertilizer to
obtain one metric ton of paddy rice are shown in Table 2.
Air emissions include direct emissions of ammonia (NH3),
nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen monoxide (NO), carbon dioxide (CO2)
and methane (CH4); water emissions include emissions of nitrates
(NO3) and phosphorus (P) (Nemecek et al., 2015).
The product of the agricultural phase is paddy rice, which is
transported to mills, to obtain rice, by road using a lorry that has a
capacity of 20 metric tons. Also, the combustion of rice husk to
produce energy was assumed to occur where the mills are located.
These mills are located in Lambayeque, 207 km from Piura and
336 km from La Libertad.
The milling phase is grouped into the cleaning, drying, shelling,
first polishing and second polishing stages. All stages are performed
on an automated production line. Outputs of the milling phase are:
rice husk, dust, broken rice, small grains and rice (Espinal and
Martinez, 2006). In the cleaning stage, straw and small stones are
removed from paddy rice which then passes to the drying stage.
According to interviews with mills owners, the drying process is
performed in the open air within the mill grounds; this process
takes approximately 17 days. The rice husk is separated from the
paddy rice when the paddy passes through the mill in the shelling
stage. Subsequently, the rice grain passes through the abrasive and
friction polisher (polishing 1) to obtain dust or rice flour. Dust is
comprised of the cuticle, embryo and other parts of the rice grain
and is used as balanced feed energy input for pigs. Finally, the
grains pass through a second polishing (polishing 2) to obtain
broken rice, small grain and rice. Broken rice is pieces of rice grains
greater than or equal to 1/4 of the length of the grain variety: this is
considered low quality rice. Small grains are broken grains less than
1/4 of the length of the grain variety. According to interviews with
mills owners and literature (MINAGRI, 2012a,b; GIDCB, 2008), this
study calculates the components as 22%, 4.9%, 2.0%, 1.1% and 70% by
weight of dry paddy for rice husk, dust, broken rice, small grain and
rice, respectively.
From the montlhly invoices of electricity consumption provided
Crop in definitive field (ha) Harvest (ha)
424
310
217
1.8
4
3
4
83.3 30.3
 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244 1239

Table 2
Inputs and Outputs of the rice husk system.

Unit Agricultural phase 1 metric Milling phase 1 metric Direct combustion Emission factors
ton of paddy ton of rice 1 MJ (a)

Inputs
Diesel l 13.8
Water m3 1634
Seed kg 9.4
Fertilizers
Urea kg 55
Ammonium Sulphate kg 39.6
(AS)
Diammonium kg 26
phosphate (DAP)
Potassium Sulphate kg 23.5
Herbicide g 540
Pesticide g 135
Electricity kWh 52.8
Paddy t 1.61
Rice husk g 137
Outputs
Ammonia (NH3) kg 5.7 5% of total N for DAP, 8% of total N for AS and 15% of total N
for urea.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) kg 1.2 The model provided by Nemecek et al. (2015) was used for
the emission factors.
Nitrogen oxides (NOX) kg 2.13 2.6% of total N for DAP, AS and urea.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) kg 40.2 1.570a urea-N applied (kg/ha) ¼ CO2 (kg/ha)
Methane (CH4) kg 8.83 The model provided by IPCC, 2006 was used for the emission
factors.
Nitrate (NO
3) kg 34.9 The model provided by Nemecek et al. (2015) was used for
the emission factors.
Phosphorus (P) g 58 The model provided by Nemecek et al. (2015) was used for
the emission factors.
Rice husk kg 314
Dust kg 70
Broken rice kg 29
Smaller grains kg 15
Carbon monoxide (CO) g 0.58
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) g 0.06
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) g 0.07
Ash g 23
a
To obtain 1 MJ it i necessary 137 g of RH and 704 g of paddy.

by the mills, unit cost of 1 kWh and monthly rice production were
used to calculate the electricity consumed for one metric ton of rice.
In addition, the environmental impacts to produce 1 kWh in Peru
for the impact categories GWP, AP, EP and WD were considered,
they are: 341.4 g CO2-eq, 1.2 g SO2-eq, 0.096 g PO34-eq and
0.015 m3 water, respectively (Va
zquez-Rowe et al., 2015). The
Peruvian electric grid is integrated for 50.4% of hydroelectric power
plants, 48.5% thermoelectric plants and 1.1% renewable
(Osinergmin, 2015). The consumed resources and the outputs
calculated to produce one metric ton of rice are shown in Table 2.
The inventory of the coal system was carried out considering the
extraction and processing of the coal and energy production phases
as well as the transport of coal from the “San Benito” mine located
400 km from Lambayeque where the mills are located. The vehicle
used to transport coal was a truck of 16e32 metric tons of capacity
which consumes diesel fuel. Data on environmental impacts for the
extraction and processing of coal as well as the transport were
obtained from Ecoinvent v3.1 (Weidema et al., 2013; Dones et al.,
2007).
In the last phase, energy production, a fluidized bed combustor
was identified as dryer for both systems (rice husk and coal), it dries
various grains and can use rice husk or coal as fuel (Duan et al.,
2013).
According to employees and the literature (Marshall and
Wadsworth, 1993; Billiris et al., 2014; Ahmad and Mirani, 2014),
dryer efficiency was estimated to be 50%. The quantity of each
feedstock required is calculated as follows:
TE
Qi ¼ (1)
HVi  Ef
Where Qi is the total required quantity of feedstock i, in kg, TE is
the total thermal energy required, in MJ, HVi is the heating value of
the feedstock i, in MJ/kg and Ef is the efficiency of the dryer. Thus,
the feedstock consumption to obtain 1 MJ of thermal energy from
rice husk is 0.137 kg (based on equation (1) and the characterization
of rice husk performed in section 2.5) and from coal is 0.061 kg
considering the heating value of rice husk and coal as 14.6 MJ/kg
and 32.6 MJ/kg, respectively.
The emissions and ash generated by direct combustion were
calculated as 0.137 kg from rice husk with an air flow rate 2.3 m3/
min and feeding rate 41.6 kg/hr according to the literature (Duan
et al., 2013). The emissions and ash generated to obtain 1 MJ from
rice husk are shown in Table 2. The emission factors for 1 MJ from
coal were obtained from the literature (IPCC, 2006; Saidur et al.,
2011). The emissions and ash calculated to obtain 1 MJ from coal
are: 98.3 g CO2, 0.3 g CH4, 0.002 g N2O, 1.053 g SO2 and 5 g ash.
2.4. Allocation procedures
It is important, in a LCA, to consider derivative products and
assign them the corresponding environmental impact. Impact
allocation consists of defining the percentage of the environmental
burden to each by-product. This is done according to the economic
value and the weight of the by-products using the equation shown
1240 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244

below: follows: heating from 25 to 120
C at a heating rate of 50
C/min

Pi x Wi
Ai ¼
P
n
ðpi x WiÞ
i¼1
Where Ai is the allocation percentage of by-product i, Pi is the
economic value of by-product i reported in US$ and Wi is the
weight of by-product i reported in kg.
In the studied system, there are not by-products in the agri-
cultural and energy production phases, only in the milling phase.
Thus, the allocation procedure was used in the latter phase and the
allocation percentage, using both methods, are shown in Table 3.
The results show that about 95.4% of the total impact was
assigned to milled rice and 0.7% was assigned to rice husk if the
allocation by economic value is used. However, if an allocation by
weight is used, the allocation percentages are 70% and 22% for rice
milled and rice husk, respectively.
Certainly, there is a major difference between the two methods
when assigning environmental impacts. In this study, the allocation
criterion by economic value was used because rice is the main
product and rice husk is a residue of the system analyzed.
To perform the LCA study, SIMAPRO 8.2.0.0 software (PRe-
Product Ecology Consultants, 2014), was used as informatics tool.
SIMAPRO includes the Ecoinvent® v3.1 database.
2.5. Characterization of Peruvian rice husk
According to literature, large quantities of rice husk are available
in developing countries but it is one of the residues least used.
Nearly 90% of rice husks is burned in open air and/or disposed of in
rivers or oceans (Lim et al., 2012; Okeh et al., 2014; Vitali et al.,
2013; Abril et al., 2009; Giusti, 2009). Due to its physical and
chemistry characteristics, rice husk can be used to obtain energy
through different conversion technologies. The rice husk from Peru
was characterized in this study in order to identify its physical
properties and chemical composition and to analyze the technical
viability of energy conversion. In this study, rice mills were visited
to obtain samples of rice husk. In total fifteen samples were ob-
tained from the study area and these were analyzed in the Center
Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus laboratory of the
maintained for 3 min at 120
C. Heating from 120
C to 950
C at
100
C/min. Cooling from 950
C to 450
C at 100
C/min. Switching
(2)
from gas to oxygen at a flow rate of 40 ml/min. Heating from 450
C
to 800
C at 100
C/min and finally an isotherm of 3 min at 800
C.
The mass of the samples were approximately 10 mg. Table 4 shows
the results of the proximate analysis and ultimate analysis for
Peruvian rice husk.
3. Results
The inventory results were analyzed in order to calculate the
environmental impacts for each impact category, GWP, AP, EP and
WD. In the rice husk system, the results were calculated for each
phase: agricultural, milling and energy production.
The environmental impacts to produce one metric ton of paddy,
considering a yield of 8.5 t paddy/ha, reach up to 817 kg.CO2-eq,
11.9 kg SO2-eq,6.5 kg PO3 3
4 -eq and 1644 m of water according to
the impact categories global warming potential, eutrophication,
acidification and water depletion, respectively. Principally, these
impacts are generated due to the production and emissions of
fertilizers from the crop field and the emissions from the flooded
field; together contribute to 86% of the environmental impacts. Two
factors explain this result: the production of fertilizers is energy-
intensive and the large amount of fertilizers applied to crop fields.
The environmental impacts to produce one metric ton of rice
and one metric ton of by-products were calculated considering the
LCI, the impact categories, allocation criteria by economic value
method, a yield of 8.5 t paddy/ha, and the drying process in the
open air. Results show that one metric ton of rice husk generates
31.4 kg CO2-eq, of which 94% corresponds to the agricultural phase
and 5% to the transport of paddy rice to mills. In the categories of
AP, EP and WD, results were 0.44 kg SO2-eq, 0.24 kg PO34-eq and
59 m3, respectively.
In the energy production phase, the environmental impacts to
obtain 1 MJ from rice husk and coal were compared, considering
the scope of the study and the use of the dryer described in point
Table 4
Characterization of rice husk from Peru.

Universidad de La Frontera (Temuco, Chile) in order to learn the Proximate Analysis (dry basis, wt. %)
physical properties and chemistry composition of rice husk through Volatile matter 63.64
proximal analysis and elemental analysis. First, a subsample was Fixed carbon 18.74
Ash 17.62
dried at 105
C for 24 h and milled in hand mill. This dried and Ultimate Analysis (dry basis, wt. %)
milled sample was used in the elemental analysis and to obtain the Carbon 38.95
heating value. Another sample of rice husk was milled but not Hydrogen 5.39
dried, for the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Quantities of N, C, Oxygen 55.07
Nitrogen 0.577
H and S were measured with the elemental analyzer Eurovector EA
Sulphur <0.1
3000, Milano, IT with a reactor temperature of 1000
C, oxidation Heating Value and Moisture
time of 11 s and run time of 900 s. TGA measurements were per- HV (MJ/kg) 14.6
formed on a TGA/DSC STA6000, Perkin Elmer, USA. The purge gas Moisture (wt. %) 8.0
(nitrogen) was set at 40 ml/min and the carrier gas used was ni- Density 102
Density (kg/m3)
trogen (N2) at 40 ml/min. The temperature program used was as

Table 3
Allocation criteria for rice and by-products (MINAGRI, 2016; Chunga, 2017).

Product Production (t/day) Economic value (a) (US$/t) Allocation Weight (%) Allocation Economic value (%)

Rice 70.0 818.8 70 95.4

Broken rice 2.0 478.1 2 1.6
Smaller grains 1.1 300.0 1 0.5
Dust 4.9 228.1 5 1.8
Rice husk 22.0 18.8 22 0.7
a
Source: MINAGRI, 2016
 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244
Fig. 3. Environmental impacts to 1 MJ from Rice Husk and Coal.
2.4. The results were: 4.29 g CO2-eq, 0.16 g SO2-eq, 0.04 g PO34-eq
and 8.1 l to obtain 1 MJ from rice husk (as shown in Fig. 3) and 143 g
CO2-eq, 1.42 g SO2-eq, 0.20 g PO34-eq and 0.07 l to obtain 1 MJ
from coal. According to the results, obtaining 1 MJ using coal as
feedstock generates an impact 34 times greater than using rice
husk in the GWP category.
It is important to indicate that 93.5% and 5.1%, respectively, of
the environmental impacts in the GWP impact category to obtain
1 MJ from rice husk correspond to the agricultural phase and the
transport of paddy rice to mills. Whereas that 75% and 22%,
respectively, of the environmental impacts correspond to the
combustion phase, and the extraction and processing phase to
obtain 1 MJ from coal in the same category.
If coal were used, 88% of the impacts would correspond to the
combustion phase in the AP category and 97% would correspond to
the extraction and processing phase in the EP category. Otherwise,
if rice husk were used, the 63% would correspond to the combus-
tion phase in the AP category and the 77% would correspond to the
agricultural phase in the EP category.
On the other hand, the NER was calculated considering the
energy consumed in the agricultural and milling phases to obtain
1 MJ in the energy production phase. The result was equal to 45 for
rice husk. Whereas, the NER for coal was 0.7. This result is attractive
to incorporate rice husk as energy source in the drying processes.
4. Discussion
4.1. Comparative analysis with other similar studies
According to the reviewed literature, most LCA studies of rice
residues to obtain energy have focused on the thermochemical
conversion to obtain electricity and in the GWP environmental
impact category (Shafie et al., 2012a,b; Muench and Guenther,
Table 5
Life cycle environmental impacts from biomass conversion to heat (Muench and Guenther, 2013).
Environmental impact category Units
Global warming potential g.CO2 eq./MJ
Acidification potential g.SO2 eq./MJ
Eutrophication potential g.PO3
4 eq./MJ
Water depletion l water/MJ
1241
2013; Quispe et al., 2017). In addition, the paddy production stage
was excluded from the system in the majority of these studies,
despite the fact that it represents up to 40% of the environmental
impacts (Shafie et al., 2012a,b).
On the other hand, LCA studies on conversion of biomass (forest
wastes, oil crops, starch crops and agricultural residues) for heat or
electricity generation through different technologies such as
biochemical conversion, direct combustion and thermochemical
conversion have been developed to calculate the environmental
impacts. The environmental impact categories commonly used in
these studies are global warming potential, acidification potential
and eutrophication potential (Muench and Guenther, 2013). In this
study, paddy production (agricultural phase) was included in the
calculation of environmental impacts to generate heat. In addition,
the category water depletion was considered because of the con-
ditions of the Peruvian coast (i.e. water scarcity) which was the
location of the present study. The results of the environmental
impacts to obtain heat from rice husk in Peru, in the GWP category,
are in the lower limit of the range in comparison to other studies, as
can be seen in Table 5.
4.2. Improving the paddy-drying process
The paddy rice drying process is currently done in the open air,
leading to many problems such as production leak, around 13%e
23%, due to weather conditions and rodent infestation, and the use
of drying space which could be better used for storage of finished
product or furnace installation. In addition, quality is lost because
drying is not uniform and the finished product cannot be delivered
on time. Moreover, the majority of the mills face problems when
eliminating rice husk. Generally it is disposed in rivers or burned in
the open air, causing environmental and health impacts, such as
respiratory problems to the neighboring populations.
Biomass Rice husk from Peru
1.65e21.4 4.29
0.01e0.27 0.16
0.00e0.04 0.04
n.a. 8.1
1242 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244

Otherwise, cleaner production strategies such as material
change, good maintenance, product change (design), technological
change and reuse at the site can help to improve the environmental
performance of the systems studied to contribute to sustainability.
In this case study, as described in point 2.4, it was proposed to make
a technological change to lower paddy humidity using a dryer
instead of open air. This would improve the productivity and
competitiveness of rice-producing companies by reducing losses
and delays in the delivery of their products.
The technical specifications of the dryer were used to obtain the
total thermal energy required which was calculated with the
following equation:
Q *Dh
TE ¼
td
Where TE is the total thermal energy required, in MJ, Q is the
total thermal energy required per hour, in MJ/hr, Dh is the differ-
ence of humidity before and after drying, in percent and td is the
drying rate per hour, in %/hr.
The total thermal energy required per hour (1213.4 MJ/h) and
drying rate (1%/hr) were obtained from the technical specification
sheet to dry 30 metric tons of paddy rice (Suncue, 2013). The
humidity at the beginning (22%) and the end of the drying process
(12%) was retrieved from the questionnaires. In conclusion, 457 MJ
is required to obtain one metric ton of dried paddy rice (output).
Subsequently, an analysis was done to dry one metric ton of
paddy rice using rice husk and coal as feedstock according to the
scope described in the point 2.2 and considering the variation of
paddy rice yield and dryer efficiency as shown in Fig. 4.
If rice husk were used to dry paddy instead of coal, with a paddy
rice yield equal to 9.5 t/ha and dryer efficiency equal to 70%, the
environmental impacts would drop by 98%, 92% and 86% in the
GWP, AP and EP impact categories, respectively. However, if rice
husk were used to dry paddy instead of coal in the same conditions,
the environmental impact would increase by 98% in the WD impact
category.
(3)
It should be noted that some rice companies in Peru are starting
to use rice husk (that they generate internally) to dry paddy rice but
they have enough quantity for use in drying processes by other
nearby companies. In this way, the rice husk could generate an
additional economic income for such companies.
Another alternative for the usage of rice husk could be in farm as
“poultry litter”, in this case, an industrial symbiosis could be ach-
ieved between the rice industry and the poultry industry. These

a)

GWP (kg CO2 eq) 2.37

Y=9.5,Ef=0.7 12.5
50.3
1.96
1.80 2.66
Y=8.5, Ef=0.7 13.4
1.41 52.5
1.28

3.32
Y=9.5 , Ef=0.5 17.37
70.4

3.71
Y=8.5 , Ef=0.5 18.73
73.1

WD (m3) EP (g PO4--- eq) AP (g SO2-eq)

b)

23
GWP (kg CO2 eq) Y=9.5,Ef=0.7 63
462
65 65
23
Y=8.5, Ef=0.7 63
462

32
61 61 Y=9.5 , Ef=0.5 87
647

32
Y=8.5 , Ef=0.5 87
647

WD (l) EP (g PO4--- eq) AP (g SO2-eq)

Fig. 4. Environmental impacts to generate 457 MJ (1 metric ton of dry paddy rice) (a) Rice husk system (b) Coal system. Y: Yield (t/ha), Ef: dryer efficiency.
 I. Quispe et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 209 (2019) 1235e1244
options are feasible technically but it would be necessary to analyze
the economic viability, considering the location of other companies
and the density of Peruvian rice husk, which is around 102 kg/m3.
5. Conclusions
Peruvian rice husk can be used as an energy source in the drying
process because of its physical properties and chemical composi-
tion. If rice husk were used as thermal energy source instead of coal,
the environmental impact would decrease by 97% (140 g CO2-eq) in
the GWP category per each MJ generated.
The life cycle approach for environmental analysis helps provide
a broader vision to identify the greatest contribution stage to the
environmental impact for decision making, not only considering
the combustion stage.
It is important to indicate that 93% of the impacts corresponds to
the agricultural phase in the GWP impact category if rice husk was
used as energy source whereas the 74% corresponds to the com-
bustion phase if coal is used. Regarding the GWP category, the
paddy yield significantly influences the rice husk system whereas
the dryer efficiency influences in the coal system.
Moreover, there is mitigation of the environmental impacts
when generating heat from rice husk instead of coal, in the GWP, AP
and EP impact categories, but not in the WD impact category. The
results obtained in this category (i.e. water depletion) can help
design more comprehensive strategies that focus on more than just
GWP, aligned with national objectives, so as to better contribute to
sustainability. If all rice husk available in Peru were used for drying
processes, instead of coal, it could mitigate around 708,540 metric
tons of CO2-eq per year.
Finally, it would be necessary to complement LCA studies with
socio-economic studies prior to decision making regarding
sustainability.
Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank the Ph.D. Program in Sciences of
Natural Resources and the Scientific and Technological Bio-
resources Nucleus at the University of La Frontera, Temuco, Chile, as
well as the Department of Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad

lica del Perú (PUCP), Lima, Peru. Also, the authors would like to
Cato
thank Dr. Ian Va
zquez-Rowe, Joshua Wolfe and anonymous re-
viewers for their valuable comments and Ursula Ca
rdenas for her
graphical support. Isabel Quispe would also like to thank owners
and professionals of the mills and rice farmers.
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