Methodological approach towards sustainability by integration of environmental impact in production system models through life cycle analysis: Application to the Rioja wine sector

Abstract

This paper proposes the integration of life cycle analysis within the production system models as a tool for decision making (whether at the strategic, tactical or operational levels) attending not only economic and technical criteria but also the environmental impact. This methodological proposal advances over the traditional approach of calculating the value of the environmental impact of a particular product, by proposing the use of models to determine the environmental impact of the product, according to the decisions made in the production system. That is, it does not provide an impact value of the product, but rather a model to determine the impact in terms of the decisions made in the production process; therefore, it can be used, especially by means of simulation, for the optimization of the production system, based on multiple criteria (including environmental impact). The methodological approach is exemplified by a case study, which is used to validate the proposal and to expose it more precisely and clearly, although the methodology is equally applicable to any production process, especially processes highly automated or with different alternative production techniques. This case study, based on the wine production sector of the Rioja Qualified Designation of Origin, in Spain, was made with actual data after several years of research in representative wineries; therefore, besides an application example, it is a support tool for sustainability in wineries, by reducing the environmental impact of wine production (especially in La Rioja and Spain, but generally throughout the world).

Quantity- and Quality-Based Farm Water Productivity in Wine Production: Case Studies in Germany

“…In our analysis, average technical water demand was 1.2-2.6 L per bottle of wine, depending on the year and winery. In the studies that we compared, processing water used in the wine cellar accounted for 0.08-5.34 L [14,52], with one extreme value of 16.8 L for an Italian organic producer [11]. The amount of water used during different steps of production varied a great deal in these studies, making it difficult to accurately compare technical water demand.…”

“…LCA studies in the wine-producing sector that collected information about water use have been conducted in Italy [8][9][10][11], Spain [12][13][14][15][16], Portugal [17], and Romania [18]. In these studies, water demand varied from 0.73 to 1065.09 L of water per bottle of wine (i.e., 0.97 to 1420.12 L per L of wine).…”

Environmental impact of Agaricus bisporus mycelium production

“…As opposed to other environmental impact assessment methods, the LCA method was developed to take into consideration a wide range of potential resources and environmental impacts, including, among others: global warming, ozone layer depletion, eutrophication, acidification, human and ecosystem toxicity, natural resource depletion, energy consumption, use of land, and use of water (Jiménez et al, 2014).…”

Optimal Design of an Olive Oil Mill by Means of the Simulation of a Petri Net Model

“…The matrix-based representation allows the development of a structural analysis [43] of the model, as well as to the performance evaluation required to solve the decision-making processes that will be used in this paper to develop a decision support tool [44]. Definition 1.…”