Assessment of the Environmental and Economic Performance of Heat Generation from Orange Peels and Sugarcane Straw

In Mexico, the possibility to exploit orange peels or sugarcane straw to generate heat has not been fully explored, even though they are major agronomic wastes generated in Mexico. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the heat generation's environmental and economic performance from these feedstocks in a fruit-processing facility located in Veracruz, Mexico. The environmental performance was assessed through the life-cycle assessment methodology, while the economic performance was estimated through the total levelized cost of energy (TLCE) considering two scenarios: (1) a base scenario where orange peels are burnt to produce process steam, and (2) a second scenario where sugarcane straw is co-fired with it. Both scenarios assume to partially displace heavy-fuel-oil (HFO) for steam generation. Results indicate that the impacts of the use of residual biomass-based heat on the potential global warming, ozone layer depletion, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, and cumulative energy demand are 34-63% lower than when using HFO and decrease the TLCE by 18-21%. However, there is also an increase in other environmental impact categories such as human toxicity, photochemical oxidation, or eutrophication. The use of orange from organic farms improves the environmental results in some of these categories. The drying and combustion of the biomass, as well as the waste treatment, are the major contributors to the environmental impacts. On the other hand, capital and fuel costs are the major contributors to TLCE. Overall, the use of orange peels and sugarcane straw to generate heat is attractive from the environmental and economic point of views.