Life cycle assessment of corn- and cassava-based ethylene production

A life cycle assessment was performed to estimate the environmental impact of corn- and cassava-based ethylene production. An uncertainty analysis based on Taylor series expansion was conducted to confirm the results and add credibility to the study. Both corn- and cassava-based ethylene production significantly contributed to respiratory inorganics, land occupation, and global warming scores, as well as increased the adverse environmental impact of non-renewable energy. The uncertainty analysis results show that cassava-based production has more significant effects on dominant categories than corn-based production, except for land occupation. Increasing the energy and crop consumption efficiency, decreasing the road transport distance, and using natural crop drying are highly recommended to reduce the adverse effect of corn- and cassava-based ethylene production on the environment. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.