Life cycle assessment of peanut production in sugarcane renovation areas in southeast Brazil

Peanuts are traditionally cultivated in Southeast Brazil during the rotation of sugarcane fields. This type of crop management is carried out to increase organic matter and magnesium in the soil and provide N through biological fixation. In literature, there is a lack of life cycle assessment (LCA) of peanuts cultivated in Brazil. It is shown that these impacts are considerably different from other countries, since Brazil has specific conditions such as, lower use of fertilizers, higher productivity and the use of biodiesel/diesel blend. Therefore, the LCA of the cultivation of peanuts in sugarcane renovation areas is herein assessed. The LCA utilized CML-IA baseline characterization factors. Emissions from crop residues, lime, fertilizers, and fuel burnt by agricultural machinery were estimated. The scope boundaries were cradle-to-gate. As a result, peanut cultivation in the sugarcane renovation area in Brazil has a lower impact than crops in Florida, USA, in most of the categories assessed. Abiotic depletion from fossil fuels (MJ/kg) in Brazil is estimated at 5.10 using B10 (10% biodiesel fuel) and 3.55 using B100 (pure biodiesel), compared to 10.12 with B0 (pure fossil diesel) in Florida. GWP-100 (kg CO2-eq/kg) is 6.19·10^− 1 for B10, 5.24·10^− 1 for B100, compared to 1.115 for B0 in Florida. Fertilization is the main source of impact in most of the categories studied. Replacing fossil diesel with bio-based fuels such as biodiesel could reduce the carbon footprint. Additionally, reducing the impact of fertilization would be an important drive for low-C peanut crops.