Environmental and economic impact of furfuralcohol production using corncob as a raw material

Corncob as agricultural waste has dramatically increased in recent years. Some corncobs are recycled and reused as bioproducts, whereas a large amount remains unused and burned in the fields. Currently, furfural production technology is one of the most commonly used technologies for corncob valorization because furfural is one of the most promising chemicals for sustainable chemical production. However, very few studies have analyzed the impact of furfural and furfuralcohol production on the environment and economy via life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). This study aims to quantify the environmental and economic impacts of furfural and furfuralcohol production, identify the main pollution processes and substances, improve potentials, and build a database on the furfural industry.

Life cycle assessment and life cycle costing were carried out to estimate the environmental and economic impact of corncob-based furfural and furfuralcohol production.

The corncob production, transport, and electricity consumption stages had the greatest impact on the environment because of direct heavy metal, phosphate, and phosphorus emissions. The overall economic impact was mainly attributed to tax, corncob, transport, electricity, and infrastructure investment. Optimizing corncob transport, raw materials and consumption efficiency, and waste disposal is highly important in reducing both environmental and economic burden.

The key factors that contribute to reducing the overall environmental and economic impacts are increasing electricity consumption efficiency and furfural product yield, decreasing transport distance from corncob buyers to suppliers, choosing the appropriate corncob compression technology, and optimizing the wastewater reuse system.