Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
By
Ning Gong
A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Packaging-Master of Science
2014
ABSTRACT
By
Ning Gong
membranes made of a blend of linear low and low density polyethylene, and drip irrigation
installed below the root zone to increase water use efficiency. It is claimed that SWRT is
capable of increasing crop yields by 50 to 400% through extending the water retention
time in the root zone. More than four million hectares of sandy soil area in the U.S. creates a
great opportunity for using SWRT to improve the soil use efficiency; however, SWRT’s
environmental footprint (EFP) is still unknown. The focus of this LCA study was to
determine the EFP of SWRT compared to control methods and previous benchmark studies
in growing corn. The functional unit was selected as 1000 kg of corn grain grown in sandy
soil in Michigan, U.S. The study boundary and temporal condition was cradle-to-gate with
data obtained from 2000 to 2013. The ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint impact assessment
methodology was used. Six different treatments (15” -row spacing- SWRT, 30” SWRT, 15”
Control, 30” Control, Irrigated SWRT, and Nonirrigated Control) planted on Sandhill farm,
the Sandhill farm was also performed to estimate the pay-off time for the additional burden
of installing SWRT. The benchmark comparison confirmed that the study results were in a
reasonable range. The study identified climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and terrestrial
acidification as the largest impacts for SWRT. Contribution analysis indicated that
irrigation was a hotspot activity. The parameter of corn grain yield was highly sensitive.
Copyright by
NING GONG
2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I received tremendous support and help with this project. I am indebted to many people
who contributed their work with my thesis. First of all, I would like express my sincere
thanks to my parents. Without their supports on both spirit and finance, I would not be
able to finish this thesis. Second, I cannot find words to express my gratitude to Dr. Auras,
my supervisor. Thank you for his guidance, support, and patient along the past three years.
It is my honor to be one of RAA member, being influenced largely from Dr. Auras and
everyone in the group. Thanks to Dr. Alvin J.M. Smucker, together with the SWRT project’s
members for providing the significant contributions and critical advices on this thesis.
Thanks to Dr. Selke for her valuable inputs and care to both my research and living. Also, I
wish to express my thanks to Dr. Bruno Basso. Without his support, I am afraid my thesis
could not be done in another one year. Also, I share the credit of my work with my
boyfriend Yao Li who helped me go over the fear and loss when started this project, and
brought positive energy to my life. Thanks to all my friends for their encouragement and
the good time we had. They are the parts I am bet to miss the most of life in MSU.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
v
3.5 Cut-off rules................................................................................................................................ 52
3.6 Allocation rules ......................................................................................................................... 52
3.7 Temporal and technology representative ...................................................................... 53
3.8 Software and data collection ............................................................................................... 53
3.9 Life cycle impact assessment methodology and impact categories ..................... 53
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 55
vi
Results and interpretation ........................................................................................................................... 119
5.1 Evaluation of result quality ................................................................................................ 119
5.1.1 Completeness check ..................................................................................................... 119
5.1.2 Consistency check ......................................................................................................... 122
5.1.3 Contribution analysis .................................................................................................. 126
5.2 LCIA Results ............................................................................................................................. 129
5.2.1 LCIA Results of experimental treatments ............................................................ 130
5.2.2 Benchmark of published studies ............................................................................. 138
5.3 Scenario comparisons .......................................................................................................... 141
5.3.1 Yield increase scenario ............................................................................................... 141
5.3.2 Drip tape lifetime scenario ........................................................................................ 143
5.3.3 Scenarios regarding multifunctionality methods of allocation ................... 147
5.3.4 LCA methodology scenario ........................................................................................ 151
5.4 Uncertainty analyses ............................................................................................................ 154
5.4.1 Data quality evaluation ............................................................................................... 154
5.4.2 Land use (LU) ................................................................................................................. 154
5.4.3 Monte Carlo simulations based on the pedigree matrix ................................ 163
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................................... 164
Appendix A5: Contribution analyses ........................................................................................................ 164
Appendix B5: Allocation scenarios............................................................................................................ 198
Appendix C5: Pedigree matrix .................................................................................................................... 201
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 212
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4- 6 Input /Output flows of sowing corn seed per 1 ha farm with .....................................68
viii
Table A- 1 LCI of 2012 experiment ..............................................................................................................98
Table A- 6 Yields from SALUS simulation for year 2004 to 2013 ................................................. 109
Table A- 7 Difference between average yields and simulated aggregate NOSWRT ............... 109
Table A- 9 Field preparation process flow calculations of experiment treatments ............... 111
Table A- 10 Field preparation process flow calculations of simulated treatments ............... 113
Table 5- 3 Published corn grain study result for reference ............................................................. 140
Table 5- 4 Comparison of LCIA from database and published studied results, and the 2012
and 2013 SWRT and Ctrl results ................................................................................................................ 140
Table 5- 5 Time [year] to pay-off SWRT burden if yield increase due to SWRT application
................................................................................................................................................................................. 143
ix
Table 5- 6 Mean and SD of LU ..................................................................................................................... 155
Table A5- 1 LCIA of 2012 15” SWRT for contribution analysis...................................................... 166
Table A5- 2 LCIA of 2012 30” SWRT for contribution analysis...................................................... 168
Table A5- 3 LCIA of 2012 15” Ctrl for contribution analysis .......................................................... 170
Table A5- 4 LCIA of 2012 30” Ctrl for contribution analysis .......................................................... 172
Table A5- 5 LCIA of 2013 Irrigated SWRT for contribution analysis........................................... 174
Table A5- 6 LCIA of 2013 Nonirrigated SWRT for contribution analysis .................................. 176
Table A5- 7 LCIA of simulated 2004 Ctrl for contribution analysis ............................................. 178
Table A5- 8 LCIA of simulated 2004 SWRT for contribution analysis ........................................ 180
Table A5- 9 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 15” SWRT .................................................. 182
Table A5- 10 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 30” SWRT ............................................... 184
Table A5- 11 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 15” Control ............................................. 186
Table A5- 12 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 30” Ctrl .................................................... 188
x
Table A5- 13 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2013 Irrigated SWRT .................................... 191
Table A5- 14 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2013 Nonirrigated SWRT ............................ 193
Table A5- 15 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2004 simulated Ctrl ....................................... 195
Table A5- 16 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2004 simulated SWRT .................................. 197
Table B5- 1-a Allocation scenarios on 15” SWRT and 30” SWRT ................................................. 199
Table B5- 1-b Allocation scenarios on 15” Ctrl and 30” Ctrl ........................................................... 200
Table B5- 1-c Allocation scenarios on Irrigated SWRT and Nonirrigated Ctrl ........................ 201
Table C5- 1 Pedigree matrix used to assess the data quality .......................................................... 203
Table C5- 2 Pedigree matrix used for uncertainty analysis ............................................................. 204
Table C5- 3 Monte Carlo simulation on SWRT machine diesel consumption rate ................. 210
Table C5- 4 Monte Carlo simulation on drip tape production ........................................................ 211
Table 6- 1 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) World midpoint normalization factor .............................................. 216
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4- 1 Average grain yield from year 1942-2012 in Ingham, MI [1] .....................................59
Figure 5- 1 Contribution analysis of 2012 SWRT treatments: 15”SWRT (left top), 30’’SWRT
(right top), 15” Ctrl (left bottom), and 30” Ctrl (right bottom) ..................................................... 127
Figure 5- 2 Contribution analysis of 2013 Irrigated SWRT (left top), Nonirrigated Ctrl (right
top), 2004 simulated Ctrl (left bottom), and 2004 simulated SWRT (right bottom) ............ 128
Figure 5- 3 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Agricultural Land Occupation ................................... 130
xii
Figure 5- 6 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Freshwater Ecotoxicity (top) and freshwater
eutrophication (bottom) ............................................................................................................................... 134
Figure 5- 10 Time to pay-off SWRT burden on climate change impact ..................................... 142
Figure 5- 18 Agricultural land occ. [m2 * a], columns with the different lower case letters
are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using the
simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ............................................................................. 157
Figure 5- 19 LU Climate change [kg CO2 eqv.], columns with the different lower case letters
are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using the
simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ............................................................................. 157
Figure 5- 20 LU Fossil depletion [kg oil eqv.], columns with the different lower case letters
are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using the
simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ............................................................................. 158
xiii
Figure 5- 21 Freshwater ecotoxi. [Kg 1, 4 -DB eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using
the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ..................................................................... 159
Figure 5- 22 Freshwater eutrophication [kg P eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using
the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ...................................................................... 159
Figure 5- 23 Human toxicity. [Kg 1, 4 -DB eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using
the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ..................................................................... 160
Figure 5- 24 Terrestrial acidification [kg SO2 eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using
the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean ...................................................................... 160
Figure 5- 25 Water depletion [m3], columns with the different lower case letters are
statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using the simulated
LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean .................................................................................................. 162
xiv
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS
AN Ammonium nitrate
CI Confident interval
EC Electronic conductivity
FU Functional unit
LU Land use
PE Polyethylene
xv
SALUS The system approach to land use sustainability model
SD Standard deviation
xvi
Introduction & Motivation
Irrigation withdrawal, about one third of the nation water use in 2005, was the
largest use of freshwater in U.S. [1]. Subsurface water retention technology (SWRT)
plastic membrane based on a polyethylene blend and drip irrigation system are the
major components of SWRT. The membrane is installed below the root zone to
extend the water retention time in soil. A drip irrigation system is used to reduce
the water loss during the water amendment process. SWRT not only increase the
water use efficiency by extending retention time, but it also increases the yield by
enhancing the grain to shoot ratio [2]. Considering that 61% of the crop growing
area in Michigan is sandy soil [3], there is great potential for SWRT to increase
The largest grain stock in the U.S. is corn, which account for 64.2% of the total
grain stock [4]. According to a USDA statistical service report, the U.S. corn grain
performance studies regarding corn grain and corn stover production have
previously been published [6-9]. Most of these studies were aimed to provide an
driving reasons for the corn related biofuel life cycle assessment LCA studies were
the rising petroleum price and federal subsidies. Only a few studies explored factors
and row spacing. These might be driven by the small amount of irrigated corn in the
US [10]. However, studies showing the great economic return for irrigation begin to
1
raise the attraction of the irrigation method to a growing number of corn growers
[11]. Until now, none of the available studies evaluate the potential EFP of using
Thus, the objective of this study is using LCA to evaluate the EFP of growing corn
using SWRT in sandy soil with various row spacings and irrigation management
strategies. Specifically, the study will focus on two main parts: a) using experimental
data from growing corn in sandy soil during the years 2012 and 2013, and b)
creating simulated data for corn production from 2004 to 2013 to determine the
EFP of SWRT for long term corn production and the pay-off of using SWRT. The
overall motivation of this study is to understand the EFP of SWRT application and
use, which is necessary for policy makers, corn growers, and SWRT researchers for
2
REFERENCES
3
REFERENCES
1. State, N.a.o.t.U. Water use in the United States. Jan 14, 2013 [cited 2014 Apr
11]; Available from:
http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/water/a_wateruse.html.
2. Smucker, A.J.M, Corn Yield of 2012 SWRT experiment in Sandhill farm, in 2012
Experiment results. 2012, Michigan State University: East Lansing.
3. Lyles, L., Sandy surface soils in the United States, in Agricul tural Research
Service. 1975, USDA: Manhattan,Kansas.
4. NASS, U., Grain stocks, USDA-NASS, Editor. 2014, NASS; Available from
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/GraiStoc/GraiStoc-03-31-
2014.pdf
6. Kim, S., B.E. Dale, and R. Jenkins, Life cycle assessment of corn grain and corn
stover in the United States. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
2009. 14(2): p. 160-174.
7. Kim, S. and B.E. Dale, Life cycle assessment of various cropping systems utilized
for producing biofuels: Bioethanol and biodiesel. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2005.
29(6): p. 426-439.
8. Sheehan, J., et al., Energy and Environmental Aspects of Using Corn Stover for
Fuel Ethanol. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2003. 7(3-4): p. 117-146.
9. Pimentel, D. and T.W. Patzek, Ethanol Production Using Corn, Switchgrass, and
Wood; Biodiesel Production Using Soybean and Sunflower. Natural Resources
Research, 2005. 14(1): p. 65-76.
10. (NASS), U.-N.A.S.S., USDA michigan specified crops harvested-yeild per acre
irrigated and nonirrigated:2007. 2007, United States department of
Agriculture.
4
11. Market, F.t. Corn: Environmental Results. Environmental and Socioeconomic
Indicators for Measuring Outcomes of On-Farm Agricultural Production in
the United States: Second Report 2012 [cited 2014 Apr 10]; From the 2012
Environmental and Socioeconomic Indicators Report ]. Available from:
http://www.fieldtomarket.org/report/national-2/PNT_NatReport_Corn.pdf.
5
Literature Review
The current chapter describes the SWRT background and management of soil,
irrigation, and fertilizer in cultivating corn. For prescription agriculture and yield
projection purposes, crop growth and management models are introduced. The
basic framework of an LCA study and an overview of the published LCA corn studies
are reported.
Temperature, solar radiation, soil, management, and available water are major
respiration and evaporation. Solar radiation satisfies the basic need for
environmental factors are not under stress. Soil, the host to the crops, is a
composition of solid particles, liquids, and air. Different levels of the components in
combination make soil display a wide range of features in texture, water holding
capacity, organic compound level, pH, electronic conductivity (EC), etc. The soil type
has great impact on plant growth in ways that providing growing conditions, such as
acid or alkaline, anaerobic or aerobic environment in the root zone, fertility, and
drainage rate, which affect the health of the crops. Management is a human effect on
adjusting soil pH, designing row spacing, weeding, fertilizing/ fertigation, and
6
Among the above crop production parameters, water availability is a critical
factor for crop yield and quality [2]. Soil water deficits rank among the highest
productivity and decreasing fertilizer efficiency, will lead to crop price increase and
aggravate the hunger issue. Irrigation water is responsible for 80% of total water
continue, the next worse scenarios would be extensive droughts. A greater demand
for irrigation has to compete with municipal, industrial, and commercial interests
[3], while fresh water declines. In this situation, new technologies that maintain
water and nutrient levels in the soil to achieve high productivity are highly sought,
short-term practice, raising problems such as high labor and resource cost, as well
as increasing leaching of fertilizers, pesticides, manure, and other soil nutrients. The
latter method achieves the goal via gene modification to develop plants with larger
root systems that can absorb sufficient water and nutrients in deeper soil. This
method is time consuming, and requires costly investment for every cropping
system.
7
Another alternative developed by Michigan State University is subsurface water
and low density polyethylene (LDPE), and drip irrigation systems. Membranes are
installed below the root zone with two installation depths- 56 cm and 40 cm from
the soil surface. Each installation depth is used in every other row, as shown in
Figure 2-1. In the long term, iDrip tapes are placed in the root zone above the
membranes. The current practice was to place the pipes on the soil surface parallel
to the linear direction of the SWRT membranes. In order to install the membranes
with the target contoured shape, a new type of tractor was developed for SWRT [7].
8
Figure 2- 1 SWRT configuration
SWRT water saving membranes are contoured engineered LLDPE films strategically
spaced below the plant root zone with space available for root growth and internal
drainage during excess rainfall. Note: (。) Installed drip pipes located 10 cm above
the SWRT water saving membranes.
Experimental plots have successfully been installed and field tested. It is claimed
that the SWRT method helps increase aboveground biomass and food production by
TX [8]. It is expected that application of SWRT will increase soil water and nutrient
level, and will eventually lead to soil enrichment and conversion to productive soil
[9]. Preliminary studies show that SWRT could transform at least 160 million acres
9
of sandy soils across the USA (3 million acres in Michigan alone) into water-
leaching [8, 10]. In addition to greater yields, the long-term use of SWRT has the
potential to increase soil water holding capacity. In response, less irrigation (60%
To date, the potential environmental impact of this technology has not been
studied. On one hand, yield records from the seven SWRT experimental sites suggest
that SWRT helps reduce irrigation, and nutrient and agrochemical run-off [8].
Meanwhile, there are potential benefits by planting on sandy soil to both reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and effectively use idle sandy soil. On the other
hand, SWRT introduces plastic membranes into the soil, which consumes
nonrewable resources, and requires extra energy for installation. Life cycle
footprint of installing and using SWRT, from raw material extraction to the end of
Corn, as a kind of C4 plant, is the major crop grown in the U.S. with large
harvested area and sales revenue [11]. The average corn yield [kg/ha] grown by
more than 300% since 1942 [12]. This tremendous yield increase should be
10
attributed to agricultural technology development and growing understanding of
producers typically vary from 38.1 to 96.5 cm, with most producers at 76.2 cm.
Narrow row width has increased appeal for many corn growers. Farnham et al [13]
at Iowa State University Extension conducted a six-year study and found that,
compared to 76.2 cm row spacing, 38.1 cm rows resulted in 0.3% higher yield,
After the row spacing decision has been made and seeds have been broadcast,
development stages is Iowa System [14]. Corn development is divided into two main
stages: the vegetative stage and the reproductive stage. Vegetative stage can be
stage includes silking, blister, milk, dough, dent, and physiological maturity [14].
Emergence requires soil temperatures above 10°C for germination. Most corn
growers choose the soil temperature as the critical factor to determine the planting
date. Early planting would allow a longer growing season, which may be beneficial
to higher yield. However, if planted too early (e.g., in March in Michigan), soil
temperature will not facilitate corn germination and will increase the seeding
mortality risk. Corn seeds start emergence in 7 to 10 days after broadcasting. Then
11
corn plants typically develop 20-21 leaves in the vegetative stage. About 130 days
after emergence, field corn becomes physically mature. Farmers decide to harvest
field corn based on tassel observation. A yellow or dark brown color silk is a signal
for harvest. A delayed harvest will not result in continuous accumulation of dry
matter. In the opposite, occurs the corn plant will itself consume starch and sugar
for respiration. Farmers decide the date to harvest corn by considering many factors.
The factors include but are not limited to corn production purposes (silage or grain),
rain feed, water amendment gains increasing popularity due to the significant yield
The goal of water management for crop producers is to maintain the field at
its near maximum soil water holding capacity (also called field capacity), to prevent
water stress on plant growth. Irrigated crops have greater economic revenue than
ones relying on rain only. Though only 18% of crop production area is irrigated in
Michigan, the irrigated area produces 23% of the total production value.
Agricultural producers tend to have higher irrigation rates on high value crops, such
12
Since agricultural water use takes up to 90 percent of the nation’s water use in
many western states [17], as well as issues such as exhaustive fresh water
enhance water use efficiency. This can be achieved by controlling the irrigation rate
and frequency, selecting the irrigation method, and retaining water in the soil for a
longer time. Irrigation management should take both economic and environmental
consequences into consideration. Irrigating corn during its water stress sensitive
periods helps to obtain the greatest benefits in the yield. On the other hand,
maximum irrigation rate should be adjusted based on average soil texture, slope,
and rate of residue. Over irrigation not only leads to unnecessary economic cost,
but also causes issues as excessive ponding, runoff, erosion, and an anaerobic
Crop water use is the sum of evaporation from the soil surface and plant
respiration [18]. For corn, soil surface evaporation and plant respiration are
responsible for 20 - 30% and 70 - 80% of total crop water use, respectively. Corn
daily water use depends on external conditions and internal factors. Major external
factors are air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, and location.
Internal factors are associated with plant growth stages. Especially in summer,
when precipitation is smaller than evaporation, water deficit become a major threat
13
growers irrigate their crops. In Michigan, about 10% of corn is irrigated [19], and
Irrigation should be adjusted based on the corn growth phase. Before plant
the soil surface and impede the seedlings [18]. In the early N leaf stages, when only a
few leaves have emerged and the root system is tiny, plant water demand is
relatively low due to the limited area to transpire water. Most water use is
attributed to soil surface evaporation during this period. A month and a half after
planting, when corn plants reach the 12-leaf stage, the average daily water use rate
increase to approximately 0.26 in/day, as much as double the amount in the 4-leaf
stage [18]. Normally at 60-80 days after seeding, when corn is in the stages of early
tassel, silking, and blister kernel, daily water use rates reach peak values. Severe
water stress occurring during these reproduction phases will have the greatest
threat to yield. Therefore, in dry years, irrigation at least once during this stage is
highly recommended to offset possible yield loss. Three months after planting, the
corn plant is in the beginning dent stage. Because air temperature begins to cool
down and the root system finishes development, both soil surface evaporation
water and plant respiration water demand decrease. In the next stages, full dent
and maturity stages, the lower leaf drop leads to a continuous shrinking water
demand. From an economic standpoint, most corn growers do not irrigate in the last
two stages, because grain has been developed and water stress will not create
14
2.3.3 Soil water
After precipitation enter the soil, the amount of water that can be held by the soil
is determined by the soil water holding capacity. Soil water holding capacity varies
greatly by soil textures, soil organic matter (SOM), and the effective rooting depth of
the crop with the soil. The available water is the difference between the field
capacity and the permanent wilting point (the point at which plants cannot absorb
water from soil and thus die), which depends on pore size and the surface area. For
example, coarse-textured soil (fine sands, loamy sands, and fine sandy loams) is
characterized by a relatively small surface area and weak Vander Waals forces
attributed to large pore size. The water holding capacity of coarse-textured soil is as
low as 0.021 to 0.100 [cm water/ cm soil] (equivalent to 0.25 to 1.2 inches
water/foot of soil), while that of fine-textured soil can be as high as 0.21 [cm water/
cm soil] (equivalent to 2.5 inches water/foot of soil) [20]. At the same time, soil
texture, soil structure, and slope greatly determine the infiltration rate. Slope
determines the tendency for water movement by gravity. Soil texture and structure
determine the available water that can flow into the soil. In general, high clay
content in the soil indicates good water holding capacity. When making irrigation
plans, the effective root depth of the planted crop should also be considered. Some
crops, such as alfalfa and corn, have very strong branching root systems that
penetrate more than 122 cm deep, while a few crops, like soybeans, could not have
15
The residue cover rate should also be taken into account when scheduling
portion of the incoming solar radiation [18]. Watts and Klocke et al [21]
demonstrated that after a single wetting event, the evaporation rate of bare soil is
higher initially, and decreases as a function of time (days) until the soil water
precipitation occurs more frequently than every 8 days for most places during the
growing season. Hence, residue has a barrier effect in reducing total evaporation. In
addition, residue layers are capable of slowing down the speed of surface runoff
[22].
systems are commonly used irrigation approaches in the U.S. Center pivot, one of
the overhead sprinkler methods, is the most often used water amendment approach
for corn. Compared to drip irrigation systems, overhead sprinkler irrigation systems
operate with relatively lower water use efficiency. The water use efficiency of
overhead sprinkler is as low as 45%, while that of drip irrigation system is 90%
[23]. A considerable portion of water loss occurs during the delivery of water to
plants for the overhead sprinkler methods. Unlike the drip irrigation method deliver
addition, drip irrigation water is a good carrier of liquid nutrients and fertilizer,
16
simplifying the application. Drip irrigation also has potential functional benefit in
A drip irrigation system consists of pumps, filters, drip tubing, valves, regulators,
connectors, ground sensors, and data collectors. Pumps provide the driving force for
the system, either powered by fuel or electricity. In the U.S., electric pumps are
popular on large farms. SWRT employs drip irrigation systems, combined with
available. At the same time, agricultural areas are continuously shrinking [24].
Investing more money on fertilizers for productive harvest has gained popularity in
legumes. However, corn, a kind of responsive crop, faces nitrogen limitation most
often, followed by phosphorus. For the purpose of a good benefit return, many corn
17
Best management of N fertilizer is estimated based on expected yield and N
credits. A realistic expected yield can be made based on average history under
favorable growing conditions. An unrealistically high yield goal will lead to over
application rate on corn is 112 to 213 kg/ha (100-190 lbs. /acre) [27] depending on
the goal, SOM and N credits. Nitrogen credit sources include NO3-N concentration in
the soil and irrigation water, soil organic matter concentration, manure application,
and legume credit. Detail equations in determine proper N application rate can be
method, environment, and plant growth phase. Nitrate, ammonia, and urea are
readily available for plants, while ammonia and urea require transformation
processes into nitrate N. Their high solubility means a high leaching issue at the
same time. Unless the plant is actively growing, a high nitrate N rate is strongly
discouraged for use on highly permeable soil. For a lower leaching rate, ammonium
is a good substitute. It can incorporate with clay and SOM to delay leaching. Only
high temperature and moist conditions favor the nitrification process to convert it
into nitrate. Urea N is sensitive to volatilization under warm temperatures, high soil
pH, and high humidity. Surface application should be avoided for urea N. Once urea
N becomes gaseous ammonia, plants hardly make use of it, which for crop producers
18
mean losses. To maximize N use efficiency, applying N only a few days ahead of
Phosphate is the second most often occurring nutrient stress for corn growing.
The inorganic forms of phosphorus that can be directly uptaken by plants from soil
are the domainant inorganic reactions from P2O5 to phosphate in soil. Plant uptake
will promote both reactions. A common practice to replenish P2O5 fertilizer is via
approximately half of the broadcasting one. If manure has been applied, a lower P
fertilizing rate should be used. Because corn only responds to low to medium level P,
an excessive amount cannot help yield but incurs the risk of surface water
yellowing/browning and lodging during corn two to eight leaves with visible leaf
collars stages. The K2O fertilizing rate usually takes soil K concentration, cation
exchange capacities (CEC), and goal of yield into consideration. For low CEC soil (< 7
19
meq /100 g) sandy soil, a suggested K application range is 80 to 140 lbs./acre [27]
machines and simultaneously shears the cobs to collect the kernels. At harvest, each
field corn plant typically has developed one cob, with kernels at 30 – 35% moisture
content. For long-term storage purposes, the harvested kernels need to be dried to
Traditionally, corn stover is left behind in the field to cover and protect the soil.
the stover for silage and ethanol production. Based on common experience, the total
mass of produced stover is assumed to be a 1:1 ratio of stover to grain. The stover
keeping local soil erosion losses below the USDA’s tolerable soil-loss limit. Nelson
[29] established a model to estimate the constrained maximum stover removal rate
based on the tolerable soil loss. It considers the rainfall and wind erosion models to
calculate the minimum left behind residue. Dale et al [30] studied the effects of corn
stover removal on soil organic carbon and soil nitrogen dynamics aspects by
running residue removal rate scenarios from 0 to 70% in the DAYCENT model.
Stover, the major residue left behind in corn harvesting, refers to the above
ground part of maize except grain. Stover takes up about 50% of the total biomass
20
yield. The majority components in stover are stalks and leaves. Stover can be
chopped as fodder for animal feed, which only takes about 5%, while a popular
approach to deal with the recovering of 90% stover is leaving it onsite without
less than 1% of corn stover in the U.S. is collected for industrial processes.
The top three chemical components of corn stover by weight are cellulose
(37.7%), hemicellulose (27.5% total, mainly from xylan (21.1%) and arabinan
(2.9%)), and lignin (18.0%) [32]. According to the National Renewable Laboratory
study [32], after corn stover is collected as large round bales and transported to a
nearby plant, it is pretreated with dilute acid to release hemicellulosic sugars. In the
next step, the cellulose polymer will hydrolyze to dissolve sugars into a liquid phase,
leaving mostly lignin in solid form to be removed. Next, the soluble sugar released
from the acid-pretreatment and hydrolysis steps are fermented to ethanol and
purified. Meanwhile, the lignin-rich solid residue is used for steam and electricity
conversion and high cost of stover baling, storage, and transportation, corn stover
scientists bring up their concerns on potential negative impacts on soil fertility and
structure from continuous stover continuously removal. Several studies [30, 32]
using CENTURY model-based simulated the stover removal effects on soil, and draw
a consistent conclusion that harvesting corn stover could lower the SOM
21
accumulation rate. But even at the maximum removal rate, which was constrained
to maintain tolerable soil erosion level, the SOM level climbed gently over a period
of decades.
In the opposite case, zero removal of corn stover, covering all corn residues on
the top of soil, there are negative consequences on agronomy. A thick stover layer
covering the surface can delay planting and retard plant development. Because most
of the incident sunshine is reflected, little heat is absorbed by soil to defrost the soil.
The stover layer actslike a barrier, locking most moist with low temperature, and
2.7 Tillage
Tillage is an agricultural process for soil preparation. It can loosen the top soil,
mix residue and manure into the soil, and destroy weeds for planting crops. Based
on the tillage extent, tillage systems can be classified into three levels: no-till,
conservation till, and conventional till. A 2010 USDA report estimates that the U.S.
corn cultivation employed conventional till, conservation till and no till at 28.8%,
such as moldboard, disk, or chisel plows, and ending with harrows to prepare the
seed beds. Conventional till buries more than 80% of residue into deep soil, which is
mineralizing to CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, the deep soil being turned over results in
22
nutrients being vulnerable to loss. In addition, several large machine-pass runs
constraining of root development because of hard pan formation and soil aggregates
become aware of the economic and environmental benefits from reducing the
Conservation tillage has less interruption to the soil, with less than 70% of
residue being incorporated into soil, usually by moldboard or disk plows. No till
management, as the name indicates, does not employ any tools to turnover the soil
Crop growth and management models can be used to simulate plant growth and
their studies mostly for the needs of simulating long-term land use effects and
change and GHG emission, such as CENTURY, DNDC, EPIC, etc. For plant growth
the crop growth and development based on the crop species, available light and
temperature. The system approach to land use sustainability model (SALUS) [38] is
one of the integrity models, which can be used to simulate both soil conditions and
plant growth. It is a powerful decision support model, which has been developed
23
into both a PC version and web version. It is capable of helping crop growers to
prescribe their schedules for irrigation, fertilizing, tillage, and harvesting to avoid
illustrated in Figure 2-2: I) growth models for 19 major crop species; II) a SOM and
nutrient cycling model; III) a soil water balance and temperature model.
The crop growth models are derived from the CERES and the International
effort was taken to link the crop growth model with soil water, nutrient and
submodels, growth limitation will be posted on carbon assimilation and dry matter
production [38].
The SOM and nutrient cycling models in SALUS are derived from the Century
model with modifications. The Century model was initially designed on a monthly
time frame to simulate carbon pool dynamics. Additional effort was devoted into
daily step simulation in SALUS for an more precise projection. Carbon source were
physically divided into aboveground and belowground carbon in the model. Both
content. Eventually, the entire carbon source will either decompose in the three soil
24
organic matter (SOM) pools (active, slow, and passive) or mineralize to CO2,
The soil water balance model in SALUS is extracted from CERES and determines
that a new concept named time-to-ponding is used to replace infiltration and runoff
calculations [38].
maintained soil moisture and promoted soil carbon sequestration. SWRT was
25
initially designed for sandy soil. Compared to clay, sandy soil has 10-times larger
particle size and significantly higher porosity and gas permeability. For this reason,
little agrochemical surface run-off occurs in sandy soil, as well as little chance of
reasonable to propose that planting crops in sandy soil can be an effective solution
to mitigate climate change burdens from agriculture. In other words, SWRT not only
can preserve the biodiversity and value of the land, but also has potential to
Land use in LCA has been addressed by different approaches [40-42]. For
instance, the LANCA® method has been incorporated into ReCiPe, which is a widely
involve the land occupation area, the duration of occupancy, activities on the land,
land transformation, impact on biodiversity, and soil physics. These aspects are
biotic production and ground water replenishment in the LANCA® method. In order
concerning the land environment and soil physics must be known. Environmental
declination of the land, water and nutrient supply resource, and distance from the
surface to ground water. Soil physics parameters needed for the modeling include
texture of soil, soil organic matter content and soil pH. Texture of soil is defined by
26
the textural triangle, i.e., the percentage of clay (below 0.002 mm), silt (0.002-0.05
mm), and sand (0.05-2.0 mm) [43]. Different soil textures have their own distinct
pore size to capture water and organic compounds. Sandy soil, with approximately
0.1 mm diameter, much larger than loam and clay (below 0.001 mm), has very low
specific surface (no more than 1 or 2 m2g-1 ). Clay’s specific surface is about 100
times higher than sand’s [43]. The specific surface area of the soil is positively
burden analysis in the 1970s. It has been recognized that, for many products, a large
share of environmental burden did not occur during the use phase, but in the
Therefore, less agreement in the LCA results presented during these periods can be
found [44], preventing LCA from emerging as a truly scientific subject at that time.
27
established, and a number of LCA guides and handbooks were published. A few
standards were established at that time and are still being followed today, such as
Currently, LCA practitioners and community are exploring broadening the scope of
LCA by developing regional scale impact indicators for land use (land occupation
and land transformation), expanding the LCA analysis beyond limited geographic
completing water footprint indicators. The modelling phase of LCA has raised
of the input and output processes in an LCA study, has dominated LCA studies until
now. With deeper understanding of LCA, the consequential LCA (cLCA) modeling
method, which identifies the displaced product and accounts for the relative
footprint differences due to the marginal change, has raised increasing attention. In
order to accommodate cLCA studies, LCA data providers are changing their database
structure accordingly. The Swiss Center for Life Cycle Inventories, one of the leading
LCA data providers, has recently published their Ecoinvent 3.0 version of the
database to facilitate cLCA modeling [45]. Additionally, LCA scientists are working
conducting and applying LCA studies’ results still occur due to assumptions, data
gaps, representative technologies, spatial differences, etc., that affect the final result
28
Today, most LCA studies are comparative aLCA case studies, in which alternative
many fierce debates, such as in the packaging area: e.g. plastic bags versus paper
bags, or glass bottle versus alternative plastic bottle or aluminum cans. On the other
hand, there is a rising demand for cLCA studies. aLCA and cLCA are modeled in
are evaluated.
The corn grain and corn stover example is used to illustrate a simplified cLCA
calculation process. Since cLCA is developed from the system expansion method,
they are similar, but mainly differentiated in the products that are being substituted.
To estimate the EFP of 1000 kg corn grain for ethanol production, the system
expansion method is used to solve the co-product (stover) issue in aLCA, while the
1000 kg grain production. In the system expansion method, the stover EFP is
section 2.12. In cLCA, assuming the 1000 kg marginal corn grain that used to be
absent of 1000 kg animal-feed corn, 1097.6 kg sorghum is used to feed the animal to
replace corn. If the EFPs of producing 1000 kg corn grain, producing 1097.6 kg
sorghum, and fermented 1000 kg grain to ethanol are 400 kg CO2, 320 kg CO2, and
588 kg CO2 equivalent, respectively, then in aLCA, the EFP of ethanol production
from 1000 kg corn grain is calculated as (400 + 588) kg CO2, while in cLCA, the EFP
29
is equal to (588 + 320 –400) kg CO2. In this case, the EFP calculated from cLCA is
lower than that from aLCA. This is because the absent grain is substituted by a less
environmental impacts are not attributed to the use phase, but to the raw material
product system throughout their life cycle, results can be convincing enough to be
accepted for making important decisions. To date, governments all over the world
encourage the use of LCA as a tool for scientific environmental decisions. This
in the European Union, the U.S., Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, and has been
A series of ISO standards such as ISO 14040, 14044 and the ILCD series
the LCA framework consists of a goal and scope definition, inventory analysis,
process between parts. As illustrated in Figure 2-3, to achieve the required precision
with minimum effort, it is recommended to first define the goal, scope, functional
30
Life cycle assessment
Goal
and scope
definition
Interpretation
Inventory
analysis
Impact
assessment
The goal definition is the first phase of conducting an LCA study. A clear goal
definition should identify six aspects: reasons for conducting the project, intended
The scope of the project should be defined according to the goal. It defines what
to analyze and how. In scope, qualitative and quantitative aspects of the FU and the
31
reference flows must be specifically documented. The FU is a measure unit of the
output performance for the studied product systems. The FU is the basis for
selecting one or more alternative product systems that provide equivalent services.
equivalent and allows reference flows to be calculated [46]. The FU could be widely
diverging in different case studies. For example, the FU could be defined as 10,000
hours at 600 lumen of light intensity when comparing incandescent bulbs and
fluorescent bulbs [47]; the FU might be “20 m2 of wall covering with a colored
wall paint. Defining the FU requires a good understanding of the studied products or
system. In the previous wall paint example, if the paints’ thermal resistance
property is crucial for users living in cold regions, the original FU is unable to ensure
included in the FU. Furthermore, if different paints do not stay on the wall for a
same duration, one more criteria should be added, such as service for 5 years. Once
the FU is properly defined, it is feasible to estimate input and output flows and
should be included in the scope section. They define the technological and
and type of critical reviews should also be clear documented in the scope definition.
32
2.11.2 Inventory Analysis
The step of life cycle inventory (LCI) accounts for material and energy resources
product and/or system. During the LCI step, the data resources used should be
accurately documented. Any assumptions involved with calculation for each unit
process, and work flow of the system model and submodel should be recorded. This
Many LCA practitioners are aware that different data quality, lack of inventory
reasons for a lack of agreement between conclusions from LCA projects with the
Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is the stage where the LCI and the potential
the different areas of protection (i.e., environment, humans, and resources). For
example, 1 kg N2O emission has a climate change effect equivalent to 298 kg CO2. So
calculated in LCIA phase. The characterization factor of 286 is obtained from the
values for the same input of 1 kg N2O. In the previous example, the ReCiPe
Midpoint 1.07(H), CML 2010 and TRACI 2.1 adopt a value of 298, while
33
Impact2002+ sets this value as 156. Therefore, multiple methodologies are
According to ISO 14040 and 14044, normalization, data quality analysis, and
2.11.4 Interpretation
Interpretation is the last phase of an LCA study. Results calculated from the LCIA
phase are first evaluated for consistency and completeness. And then other analyses
are carried out during the interpretation phase. A series of analyses include:
sensitivity analysis, which estimates the effect of choices made on methods and data;
model imprecision and data availability [48]; and contribution analysis, which
In an LCA study, only one product or system is involved out of several products
flows to estimate the impact of the studied product alone is often required in LCA
studies. Allocation and system expansion are traditional solutions to separate the
impacts between products produced by a common system, like corn-stover and corn.
product system between the studied product system and other products occurring
34
from the same activity based on a given ratio. According to ISO 14044, allocation
should be avoided whenever possible by either dividing the unit process into two or
System expansion is defined as subtracting the impacts of co-products from the total.
The ISO standard requires avoiding allocation mainly due to the controversial issues
partitioning ratio is often assigned based on a physical relation like energy content,
mass ratio and/or economic value. For example, for an LCA study to quantify the
partitioned between the inputs and outputs going to grain and stover mainly based
them. Many LCA studies demonstrate that different choices of partitioning ratio
significantly influence and even alter the final results and can provide a misleading
Compared with arbitrary defined ratios for allocation, dividing unit processes
However, dividing unit processes is not always possible, while the substitution
In the above-discussed corn and stover example, to comply with ISO 14040 and
14044, allocation is not the top candidate method to isolate the impact of the
35
studied product system/ activity. To perform the system expansion method, the
displaced the product and the co-product is conducted. After that, the LCIA of the
be equivalent to the co-product, and is deducted from the total studied LCIA.
In the case of applying system expansion in the corn and co-product stover case:
a) producing 2000 kg corn plant (1000 kg corn grain plus 1000 kg corn stover)
produces 500 kg CO2 equivalent emissions was calculated first; b) then switchgrass
ethanol was identified as the displaced product of corn stover; c) after that the
the displaced quantity relationship were found from the literature; d) the scaling
relation between stover and switchgrass was determined to be that the ethanol
produced from 1000 kg stover was equivalent to the ethanol fermented 375 kg
switchgrass; e) next, the LCIA of 375 kg switchgrass was estimated to be 100 kg CO2
equivalent; f) last, the LCIA of producing 1000 kg stover was substituted by the
switchgrass one (100 kg CO2 equivalent) and removed from the total 500 kg CO2
equivalent. Thus, in this example, the LCIA of producing 1000 kg corn grain is 400
kg CO2 equivalent.
B.P. Weidema, S. Suh et al, and others [49-51]have published a series of papers
towards endless regression issues. This paved the foundational techniques for cLCA.
36
2.13 Past corn studies
Many LCA corn studies [32, 36, 52, 53] have been developed to quantify the
biofuel is a potential way to mitigate the global warning effect; c) new stover-
ethanol conversion technology has been developed to promote a higher corn crop
studies published between 2005 and 2010. They found that almost all biofuel
studies involved global warming as an impact indicator. Although results had large
variations, most of the studies concluded that biofuel displayed GHG advantages
different studies. Moreover, other important indicators, such as specific land use
and water depletion, were hardly included in the studies. Only one study of
incomplete conclusions are insufficient to support public policy. The large variation
of different studies’ results is recognized as one of the main LCA limitations. The
processes. Many of them are objective differences among studies, like geographic
37
locations, while a few variables are subjective issues, like allocation methods and
key assumptions.
The FUs used in most corn LCA studies can be divided into two types: type I-the
amount of fuel (biofuel/petroleum) used to drive a unit distance for a certain type of
car; and type II-a unit mass of corn grain or/and corn stover. For example, the FU
midsize car [53]; product-oriented as 1 kg of dry grain and 1 kg of dry stover [31],
environmental impact of the biofuel life cycle, the FU is often selected as service-
agricultural activity towards the cropping system, the other two types of FUs are
different. For the first type of FU, the system boundary is usually identified from
conversion of stover-based ethanol, fuel use phase, and waste management. For the
normally from cradle to farm gate. A key assumption is that after the farm gate,
phases after leaving the farm gate could be left out in comparative studies.
One of the reasons for large variations between the different LCA studies about
bioethanol derived from differences in the studied locations and temporal scopes.
38
Most geographic locations in corn LCA studies are either Europe or the U.S. (mainly
within the Corn Belt states which produce over 80% of the total corn in the U.S. [56],
especially within Iowa [30-32, 53]). Different geographic regions represent different
limitations, only a few studies allow investigating the effects of location [31].
used 4-year average values between 2000 and 2003 for yield and agronomic input
data, while Sheehan et al [32] employed corn yield reports from 1995-1997 and
scope may involve inventory errors due to two reasons: (1) the average corn yield
the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services report [12], the average yield has
increased from 100 bushels/acre to 160 bushels/acre since 1983. (2) The weather
conditions vary significantly year-to year, which affect decision making about
agronomic inputs and yields dramatically. The yield increase dilutes the
outputs. For this reason, it is believed that yield and yield change are highly
sensitive parameters in crop related LCA studies [57]. In addition, the time and
geography representation of the yields and weather data should be matched and
well documented.
Another large source of variation is the great uncertainty of the inventory for
39
of the author’s knowledge, few records of commercialized stover-conversion
technology were available when this work was published. DuPont launched one of
the first and largest commercial biorefinery in the world to produce fuel from
cellulose in 2012 [58]. Another key factor resulting in less agreement in different
studies is the stover removal rate without additional fertilizer supplement. The
stover removal rate (SRR) is a factor to determine the stover share of total corn crop
environmental impacts. It varies from 0 to 70% among corn LCA studies. Some
dominant represented value, while one study [32] set up a constraint on tolerable
among biofuel LCA studies. In theory, all relevant interventions must be included. In
biofuel LCAs, plants capture CO2 from atmosphere and release equivalent CO2 when
they burn. Therefore, a common simplified method is to feature the biofuel chain as
“carbon neutral” to avoid unnecessary errors by not accounting for capture of CO2
and burning emission CO2 interventions [54]. In the IPCC methodology, when
calculating GHG, both included biogenic CO2 and excluded biogenic CO2 approaches
were developed, while a few methodologies, such as ReCiPe 1.07, default to exclude
biogenic carbon. However, if the system boundary of studies is from cradle to farm
gate, which does not involve fuel burning, biogenic carbon should be included.
40
including the biogenic CO2 makes a large difference since credits for extracted CO2
are allocated to different parts of a multiproduct-system than the debits for CO2
emissions.
41
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42
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48
Goal and Scope
This chapter defines the purpose of the study, intended use of the delivered
define the boundary of this attributional LCA study. The motivation of the studied
Sandhill farm using SWRT. Sandhill farm is an experimental plot located south to
footprint of using SWRT and irrigation to grow corn in Michigan. The four
combination agronomic scenarios were: i) SWRT with irrigation, ii) SWRT without
irrigation, iii) non-SWRT with irrigation, and iv) non-SWRT without irrigation. The
The primary use of this study is to establish a baseline for the SWRT
The findings can help SWRT researchers identify hotspots of environmental burden
associated with corn growth on sandy soil. In addition, the study can provide
guidance for agricultural researchers and offer advises to farmers about planning
49
3.2 Target audience
The primary target audiences for this study are SWRT researchers, corn growers,
and policy makers. The interest parties will be mainly the agricultural industry,
responsible for agricultural land management. The study itself is mainly intend for
50
3.3 Functional unit
The functional unit is 1000 kg of corn grain grown in sandy soil in MI, US. (dry
This study focuses on the comparison of the corn production process involved
with SWRT and irrigation technologies. A cradle to farm gate system boundary was
potential errors and reducing noise by avoiding the steps after leaving the farm gate.
For the corn production life cycle, the cradle here refers to raw material
extraction, such as mining for further fertilizer production. The farm gate refers to
the farm where the corn is harvested. For the membrane life cycle, the cradle is
petroleum extraction for resin production, and the grave means the end of life (EOL)
of the membrane. The whole studied system includes 14 major processes, as shown
by tractor, twice conservation tillage (before planting and after harvest), seed
51
[1] Membrane [7] N fertilizer
manufacture
[8] N fertilizer
[2] Membrane [14] Stover removal
installation [9] K fertilizer
[3] Tillage
Field production Harvest
[6] Irrigation
[5] Sowing
[10] Rdup [12] Combine
harvest
[5] Seed [11] AMS [13] Tillage
production
Due to the extensive number of inputs and outputs in this LCA study, flows that
contribute less than 1% of the cumulative mass and the total environmental
footprint were excluded. In some cases, small amounts of certain components have
great impacts on certain impact categories (such as sulphur hexafluoride and N2O
on climate change). Therefore, the initial identification of inputs and outputs were
selected primarily based on mass, but also keep cautious to a group of components
In accord with the functional unit ( 1000 kg corn grain in this study), the
environmental impacts of grain production should be isolated from the whole plant
52
growing process. System expansion was conducted to partition impacts to grain and
on mass, economic values, and energy contents were used as well. Mass allocation is
The time representative for most technologies is the most recent 10 years,
except for SWRT, a pilot technique, where it is the post 5 years. The study complies
This LCA study was mainly conducted using GaBi 6 professional version from PE
was conducted in Matlab Version R2010b (Mathworks, Natick, MA, U.S.). The study
The data used in evaluation of SWRT experiments were collected from primary
results. And the model-based simulation part partially employed primary data such
simulated data for corn yield and water amendment from simulation using the
SALUS model Version 1.0 (Alpha). Detailed information regarding data sources can
53
including CML2001 - Nov. 2010IPCC, TRACI 2.1, and IPCC were used for benchmark
comparisons with published corn LCA studies. The following six impact categories
ecotoxicity, and h) human toxicity. They were selected by following LCA guidelines
for grains[3] that discusses the important impact categories for LCA grain studies.
54
REFERENCES
55
REFERENCES
56
Life Cycle Inventory
The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) was created as two dataset to be analyzed: a) an
created from the data obtained from the inputs and outputs of the unit processes of
growing corn in the experiment run in the Sandhill farm. The simulated dataset was
created from running corn growth scenarios in the SALUS simulation software [2].
Detailed LCI inventories of both the experimental and simulation dataset are
Field corn was grown in the Sandhill farm located in East Lansing, MI in 2012
and 2013. The soil texture on Sandhill farm is 96.1% sand and 3.9% silt and clay.
The total experimental site area was 65.580 m * 27.432 m (N-S * E-W) = 1,881.287
m2. The total area was divided into five plots. Treatments were randomly assigned
to each plot.
In 2012, two factors were studied: using SWRT and row spacing. Each factor had
two levels: SWRT, without SWRT, 0.381 m row spacing, and 0.762 m row spacing.
Due to the unusually low precipitation that year, to keep the corn plants alive,
additional water supplement was applied to all four treatments at different levels,
which is described in Table 5-7. In 2013, two factors were studied using SWRT and
irrigation. Theoretically, each factor had two levels: SWRT, without SWRT, and
57
so the treatment irrigated SWRT and nonirrigated without SWRT were the only
ones conducted. The yields and irrigation water consumption for 2012 and 2013 are
SWRT No SWRT
Row spacing Yield Irrigation Yield Irrigation
m [kg/ha] m3/acre [kg/ha] m3/acre
0.381 16830±1256 1989 9671±2135 583
0.762 13376±1319 1070 9921±1444 269
* Yield [kg/ha]: mean ± stand error
SWRT No SWRT
Yield Irrigation Yield Irrigation
[kg/ha] m3/acre [kg/ha] m3/acre
Irrigated 11981±359 765
Nonirrigated 3544±957 0
* Yield [kg/ha]: mean ± stand error
Since the studied factors are different between years 2012 and 2013, and the
studied factors were monitored for only a single year, drawing conclusions based
simply on year 2012 and 2013 experiment datasets has its limitations.
Yield is a data with large year-to-year variations because of weather changes (i.e.,
temperature, precipitation, radiation, wind speed, etc.). So, a short study duration
Furthermore, year 2012 was a special dry year, which decreased its
58
representativeness of average results. An obvious drop in corn grain average yield
further ratifies the assumption about being a dry year. Treatments were irrigated at
different levels. So, it is difficult to isolate the water irrigation effect from the studied
drawing conclusions towards two of the studied factors: irrigation and SWRT.
180
160
140
grain yield (Bu/a)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1942 1952 1962 1972 1982 1992 2002 2012
year
Based on the above reasons, the need for data simulation emerged. The
simulated dataset can overcome the limitation of short study periods in agricultural
experiments. At the same time, long-period data would eliminate the disturbance of
59
The SALUS model was used to simulate corn yields in Sandhill farm from 2004 to
2013. Four specific input files were created for the SALUS simulation scenarios: crop
file, field management file, soil texture file, and weather file 2004 to 2013.
A crop file was created based on a pre-created library with more than 18
common crops in the U.S. From the SALUS simulation library, the studied crop
The soil texture file required information regarding the lower limit of soil water,
drainage in the upper limit of soil, the saturated soil water content, soil hospitality,
saturated hydraulic conditions, bulk density, organic carbon content, clay content,
and silt content. The soil texture file was created based on the Sandhill farm soil
The weather file for the SALUS simulation was obtained from daily weather
records of the MSU Horticulture Teaching and Research Center (1.8 miles from
Sandhill farm), which was available in the Michigan Automated Weather Network
[3]. The weather records of air temperature, precipitation, solar flux density, and
wind speed from 2004 to 2013 were used to create the weather file.
The crop management parameter settings in the SALUS model are mostly
derived from experimental records. A series of typical inputs are plant population,
row spacing, dates and type of tillage, planting and harvesting. Fertilizer types and
application levels, important inputs for both the SALUS model and LCA studies, are
decided based on expert opinion for Michigan [4]. The crop management settings
60
To select the plant growth and water balance model in SALUS, the output yields
and irrigation water were used for the LCA study of the simulation treatments. Two
levels of irrigation factor, irrigated and non-irrigated, were simulated in the SALUS
model. Because only about 10% of corn is irrigated in Michigan, the aggregated
dataset used in the second part of the LCA evaluations to represent corn grown in
Sandhill farm was modelled as 10% irrigated and 90% non-irrigated. Appendix-LCI
Table A-7 provides the irrigated yield, non-irrigated yield, and aggregated yield
from the SALUS simulation, and average yields of the U.S., Michigan, and Ingham
County retrieved from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National
4.2 Overview
The life cycle inventory (LCI) step of an LCA study documents the data collection
and calculation processes, and keeps records of inputs and outputs of the whole
system. Input and output quantities are adjusted according to the functional unit
61
(FU) of the study. The corn grain production system is shown in Figure 4- 2.
(SWRT)
Corn Grain
Energy Grain production
Production System
Agricultural machinery
There are 28 unit processes within the whole system. To simplify the analysis,
they were grouped into 6 groups as shown in Table 4-3. The following section
62
Table 4- 3 Unit process grouping for corn production system
4.3 Machinery
The machinery group includes plans of tillage, sowing, broadcast fertilizing, and
combine harvesting. Chisel tillage machinery was used twice per growing season.
The first use was several days prior to sowing seeds, and the other time was applied
63
after harvesting. The remaining three machinery activities were modeled on the
In general, each machinery plan was controlled by a central unit process. It fixed
the reference flow, 10000 m2 machinery work flow output in this case, to manage
the quantity of inputs and outputs of the connected processes. The input processes
that were connected to the reference process can be categorized into three types: i)
machine production (including tractor and agricultural machinery), ii) shed, the
solid construction of building for machinery production, iii) diesel, the primary
4.3.1 Tillage
The tillage unit process was a cradle to farm gate plan. The output of the unit
process was 1 ha farm being chisel tilled. The model of the chisel tillage process is
1 ha farm being
The tillage plan was developed from the Ecoinvent Data v2.2 (Swiss Centre for
LCI) unit process named “tillage, cultivating, chiselling, single operation unit process
(u-so)”, whose detailed LCI is listed in Table 4- 5. The primary energy supply,
64
Switzerland diesel, was substituted by U.S. diesel. The purpose of primary energy
substitution is to localize the original Switzerland tillage process to the U.S. The
remaining three processes were obtained from Ecoinvent Data v2.2 aggregated unit
65
Table 4- 5 Input /Output flows of chisel tillage 1 ha farm with primary US energy
substitution
Standard
Flow Amount Unit deviation
Input
CH: agricultural machinery, tillage, production
[Machines] 1.48 kg 111%
US: diesel, at refinery[fuels] 15.5 kg 111%
CH: shed [buildings] 0.00573 m2 301%
CH: tractor, production [Machines] 0.883 kg 111%
Output
CH: tillage, cultivating, chiselling 10000 m2 0%
Waste heat [Other emissions to air] 705 MJ 111%
Carbon dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 48.3 kg 121%
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 6.08E-01 kg 152%
Carbon monoxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 1.30E-01 kg 501%
Dust (PM2.5) [Particles to air] 8.28E-02 kg 305%
NMVOC (unspecified) [Group NMVOC to air] 0.0302 kg 152%
66
4.3.2 Sowing
The sowing plan included the machine and energy cost of corn seed sowing.
Similarly to the tillage process, it was built based on the Ecoinvent Data v2.2 u-so
type unit process named “CH: sowing”. For primary energy, Switzerland diesel was
substituted by U.S. diesel. The sowing plan model is illustrated in Figure 4- 4. The
input and output flows for sowing per hectare are presented in Table 4-6. The
temporal, geography and key assumptions of the processes in this plan are
67
Table 4- 6 Input /Output flows of sowing corn seed per 1 ha farm with primary US
energy substitution
Standard
Flow Amount Unit deviation
Input
CH: agricultural machinery, general, production
[Machines] 0.966 kg 111%
CH: diesel, at regional storage [fuels] 3.82 kg 111%
CH: shed [buildings] 0.00546 m 2 301%
CH: tractor, production [Machines] 0.596 kg 111%
Output
CH: sowing [work processes] 10000 m2 0%
Waste heat [Other emissions to air] 174 MJ 111%
Carbon dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 11.9 kg 121%
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.17 kg 152%
Carbon monoxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.0143 kg 501%
Dust (PM2.5) [Particles to air] 0.0128 kg 305%
NMVOC (unspecified) [Group NMVOC to air] 0.0125 kg 152%
Sulphur dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00385 kg 121%
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 0.00085 kg 152%
Methane [Organic emissions to air (group VOC)] 0.00049 kg 156%
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) [Inorganic emissions
to air] 0.00046 kg 156%
Ammonia [Inorganic emissions to air] 7.64E-05 kg 156%
Benzene [Group NMVOC to air] 2.79E-05 kg 156%
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) [Group
PAH to air] 1.26E-05 kg 305%
Copper (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 6.50E-06 kg 505%
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 3.82E-06 kg 505%
Lead (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 1.44E-06 kg 152%
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 3.25E-07 kg 152%
Nickel (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 2.68E-07 kg 505%
Chromium (unspecified) [Heavy metals to air] 1.91E-07 kg 505%
Benzo pyrene [Group PAH to air] 1.15E-07 kg 505%
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 3.82E-08 kg 505%
Selenium [Heavy metals to air] 3.82E-08 kg 156%
68
Table 4- 7 Representation of processes in sowing activity with primary US
energy substitution
Process Temporal Geography Key assumptions
seeder: 1000 kg machine,
agricultural machinery, 1995- 1000 hours useful life, 0.54
general, production 2002 Switzerland repair factor
1995- 3000 kg machine, 7000 hours
tractor, production 2002 Switzerland useful life, 0.74 repair factor
dataset was built on one
example of a typical
1994- agricultural building, 50 years
shed 2002 Switzerland lifetime
diesel, at refinery 2009 U.S. US LCI dataset
1991-
Sowing 2002 Switzerland working width 3 m
4.3.3 Fertilizing
The fertilizing activity refers to a process that applies granular fertilizers using a
broadcaster. The fertilizer plan inventories the machine cost and primary energy
Similar to the tillage process, the fertilizing plan consisted of five processes: i)
general agricultural machinery production, ii) tractor production, iii) shed, iv) U.S.
diesel, and v) fertilizing by broadcaster. Process iv was obtained from the US LCI
database, and the other four processes are derived from Ecoinvent Data v2.2. Detail
inputs and outputs of the fertilizing by broadcaster unit process (u-so) are
69
Table 4- 8 Input /Output flows of fertilizing by broadcaster process with primary US
energy substitution
Standard
Flow Amount Unit deviation
Input
CH: agricultural machinery, general, production
[Machines] 0.241 kg 111%
CH: diesel, at regional storage [fuels] 5.29 kg 111%
CH: shed [buildings] 0.00171 m2 301%
CH: tractor, production [Machines] 0.687 kg 111%
Output
CH: fertilizing, by broadcaster [work
processes] 10000 m2 0%
Ammonia [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00011 kg 156%
Benzene [Group NMVOC to air] 3.86E-05 kg 156%
Benzo pyrene [Group PAH to air] 1.59E-07 kg 505%
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 5.29E-08 kg 505%
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 3.40E-07 kg 152%
Carbon dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 16.5 kg 121%
Carbon monoxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.021 kg 501%
Chromium (unspecified) [Heavy metals to air] 2.65E-07 kg 505%
Copper (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 9.00E-06 kg 505%
Dust (PM2.5) [Particles to air] 0.0208 kg 305%
Lead (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 1.49E-06 kg 152%
Methane [Organic emissions to air (group VOC)] 0.00068 kg 156%
Nickel (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 3.70E-07 kg 505%
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.231 kg 152%
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) [Inorganic emissions
to air] 0.00064 kg 156%
NMVOC (unspecified) [Group NMVOC to air] 0.0143 kg 152%
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) [Group
PAH to air] 1.74E-05 kg 305%
Selenium [Heavy metals to air] 5.29E-08 kg 156%
Sulphur dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00533 kg 121%
Waste heat [Other emissions to air] 240 MJ 111%
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 5.29E-06 kg 505%
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 0.0009 kg 152%
70
Table 4- 9 Representation of processes in fertilizing activity with primary US energy
substitution
Process Temporal Geography Key assumptions
agricultural machinery, 1995- Switzerland seeder: 1000 kg machine, 1000
general, production 2002 hours useful life, 0.54 repair factor
tractor, production 1995- Switzerland 3000 kg machine, 7000 hours
2002 useful life, 0.74 repair factor
shed 1994- Switzerland dataset was built on one example
2002 of a typical agricultural building,
50 years lifetime
diesel, at refinery 2009 U.S. US LCI dataset
fertilizing, by 1991- Switzerland 500 fertilizer carrying capacity
broadcaster 2002
A Combine harvester machine is one of the most often used machine to harvest
grain crops. A combine harvester can finish reaping, threshing, and winnowing corn
simultaneously in a single pass. Depending on the needs, the specific model, and
crop row spacing, the combine can harvest about three to ten rows at the same time.
Thus, the combine harvester is one of the most important labor saving machines for
corn harvesting.
There are inevitable corn losses in corn harvesting. Prior to machine harvesting,
about one bushel per acre ear is lost due to early drop [6]. Machine-loss is
comprised of failure in corn collection by the combine and processing loss in the
harvest corn due to the small experimental area and the need for several batches in
harvest sampling. Therefore, a zero machine loss rate was ideally assumed in the
71
The combine harvesting plan consisted of four unit processes: i) harvester
production, ii) shed, iii) diesel, and iv) combine harvesting. The inputs and outputs
Table 4- 11.
Standard
Flow Amount Unit deviation
Input
CH: diesel, at regional storage [fuels] 33.3 kg 111%
CH: harvester, production [Machines] 6.3 kg 111%
CH: shed [buildings] 0.00858 m2 301%
Output
CH: combine harvesting [work processes] 10000 m2 0
Ammonia [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00067 kg 156%
Benzene [Group NMVOC to air] 0.00024 kg 156%
Benzo pyrene [Group PAH to air] 1E-06 kg 505%
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 3.3E-07 kg 5.05
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 8.8E-07 kg 152%
Carbon dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 103 kg 121%
Carbon monoxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.32 kg 501%
Chromium (unspecified) [Heavy metals to air] 1.7E-06 kg 5.05
Copper (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 5.7E-05 kg 505%
Dust (PM2.5) [Particles to air] 0.149 kg 305%
Lead (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 3.8E-06 kg 152%
Methane [Organic emissions to air (group VOC)] 0.0043 kg 1.56
Nickel (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 2.3E-06 kg 505%
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 1.7 kg 152%
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) [Inorganic emissions
to air] 0.004 kg 156%
NMVOC (unspecified) [Group NMVOC to air] 0.145 kg 1.52
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) [Group
PAH to air] 0.00011 kg 305%
Selenium [Heavy metals to air] 3.3E-07 kg 156%
Sulphur dioxide [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.0336 kg 121%
72
Table 4- 10 (cont’d)
Standard
Flow Amount Unit deviation
Waste heat [Other emissions to air] 1510 MJ 1.11
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to air] 3.3E-05 kg 505%
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] 0.00238 kg 152%
4.4 Irrigation
The most widely used irrigation approach to supplement water for corn is center
pivot irrigation [7]. To enhance the water use efficiency, a drip irrigation method
was employed to irrigate corn on the Sandhill farm experiment, combined with
SWRT.
73
According to the irrigation process in Ecoinvent report no.15 [8], 2.64 MJ electricity
is spent to pump 1000 kg water with a delivery pressure of 700,000 to 800,000 Pa.
Drip tapeused in the Sandhill farm experiment is a type of black color HDPE tube.
manufacturing process dataset to produce the irrigation tube was not available.
Therefore, the process of general purpose HDPE pipe production was used as drip
tape production. This was a cradle to plant gate dataset, which included petroleum
extraction, oil fractionation for ethylene, polymerization for HDPE, and pipe
extrusion. The aggregated HDPE pipe production unit process was developed based
The mass of drip tape used per unit area was measured from sampling (as
shown in Appendix-LCI Table A-12). The total length of the drip tape was calculated
based on irrigation maps; the mass to length ratio of the drip tape was obtained
from measurement; the average drip tape consumption (kg/m2) was calculated
from the total mass of irrigation tubes [kg] divided by the total irrigated area [m2].
The average drip tape consumption rate was used for drip tape infrastructure flow
74
calculations in the field preparation process. A detailed calculation of irrigation tube
Drip tapes are disposed every year after crop harvesting. Because the soil
fraction of the disposed irrigation pipes are recycled. A majority of them are sent to
Protection Agency, little solid data can be found regarding the drip tape EOL. The
result of the New York State agricultural plastic disposal survey in 2004 [9] was
used as the benchmark for the EOL fraction assumption: 66% wt. incineration, 27%
wt. landfill, and 7% wt. recycle. These EOL fractions are used in the harvesting unit
process.
4.5 Chemical
Urea, K2O, and P2O5 are granular fertilizers applied ahead of planting via
broadcasting. The liquid fertilizers (KCl and Ammonium Nitrate (AN)) and
They are applied to the crops via the irrigation system during the growing phases.
common used sulfuric acid form soil-pH adjuster. The ideal pH for most crop
75
growth is around 6.5. To lower soil pH, gypsum is a commonly used amendment.
Since the latest gypsum amendment in 2009, no more gypsum was added to the
Sandhill farm during the 2012-2013 experiments. According to soil experts, gypsum
on NOSWRT treatment should be added by the year 2015, while they were
amendment rate [kg/ha] is assumed the same for both SWRT and NOSWRT
treatments.
In the LCIs for the 2012 and 2013 experiments, as described above, there were
eight unit processes in the chemical group. In the LCIs of 2004-2013 simulation,
there were six unit processes, with liquid fertilizers (KCl and AN) being left out.
Leaving out liquid fertilizers was due to a) the small irrigation fraction (10%) of the
All of the chemical unit processes were cradle to gate production processes,
which include material, energy used, and transportation. They represented the
elementary output flow was 1 kg of chemical production for all eight chemical
76
Table 4- 12 Chemical processes description
77
4.6 Seed
The corn seeds planted in the Sandhill farm experiment were Roundup Ready
DeKalb DKC 46-61 hybrid for both the 2012 and 2013 experiments. They were
purchased from DeKalb Genetics Corporation. Thus, the seed process was modeled
Field corn seeds planted on Sandhill farm were directly applied via machine
process in this LCA study referred to 1 kg maize seed production (fresh weight with
12% humidity). Unit process data from Ecoinvent v2.2 named “maize seed IP, at
farm” was used. This was a cradle to farm gate corn seed production, including seed,
and transformation. The seed process represented the situation in Switzerland, with
Table 4- 13 illustrates the input and output inventories for the seed process.
From the table, it can be speculated that the corn seed was cultivated without
because the grain yield (3000 kg/ha) was much lower than the U.S. average
78
Table 4- 13 LCI of seed process
79
Table 4- 13 (cont’d)
Group Flows Amount Unit
Occupation, arable, non-irrigated [Hemerobie
1.6667 m2*a
ecoinvent]
Transformation, from arable, non-irrigated
2.3667 m2
Land occ. & [Hemerobie ecoinvent]
transform. Transformation, from pasture and meadow
0.96667 m2
[Hemerobie ecoinvent]
Transformation, to arable, non-irrigated
3.3333 m2
[Hemerobie ecoinvent]
Outputs
CH: maize seed IP, at farm [seed] 1 kg
Ammonia [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00086 kg
Atrazine [Pesticides to agricultural soil] 0.00022 kg
2.63E-
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
08
2.42E-
Cadmium (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] kg
06
7.57E-
Chromium (+VI) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
06
Chromium (unspecified) [Heavy metals to 5.10E-
kg
agricultural soil] 06
1.77E-
Copper (+II) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
06
-3.16E-
Copper (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] kg
07
8.33E-
Glyphosate [Pesticides to agricultural soil] kg
05
9.57E-
Lead (+II) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
08
4.32E-
Lead (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] kg
07
Metolachlor [Pesticides to agricultural soil] 0.0002 kg
7.83E-
Nickel (+II) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
07
2.35E-
Nickel (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] kg
06
Nitrate [Inorganic emissions to fresh water] 0.09769 kg
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.00042 kg
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) [Inorganic emissions
0.00199 kg
to air]
8.58E-
Phosphate [Inorganic emissions to fresh water] kg
05
80
Table 4- 13 (cont’d)
Group Flows Amount Unit
4.78E-
Phosphorus [Inorganic emissions to fresh water] kg
05
Waste heat [Other emissions to air] 0.0468 MJ
5.67E-
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to fresh water] kg
06
8.39E-
Zinc (+II) [Heavy metals to agricultural soil] kg
06
4.7 SWRT
One of the intentions of using SWRT is to extend the time that the soil water
stays in the root zone. To achieve this goal, plastic membrane strips were installed
below the root zone with a contoured shape. The inventories of using SWRT should
and energy used for installation. The data sources, and representation of temporal,
Theoretically, it is not expected that the SWRT membrane will fail due to
degradation for at least a century. In practice, the membrane might fail to work
breakage. However, any of the above failures would simply be repaired locally and
81
do not affect the life of the total membranes across any field. Thus, a very
The second key assumption was that the SWRT machine production had
SWRT machine production data; however, the SWRT machine has similar tilling
The third assumption was that the diesel consumption rate was assumed to be a
function of the SWRT installation area; in other words, installation depth was
irrelevant. It took about six hours to install one-acre of land with John Deere 8520
tractor (Moline, IL, US) at the very beginning tractor development phase in the
experiments.. The diesel consumption rate was estimated according to the engine
test report [10]. Because the installation rate is positive related to the number of
chisels on the tractor, the advanced tractor with more chisels are expected to have a
82
Table 4- 14 Representation and data resource of SWRT processes
4.8 Planting
The planting group covers two unit processes: field preparation and harvest. The
field preparation process defines the inputs for planting corn and outputs of
fertilizer emissions. The harvesting process is connected right after the field
83
4.8.1 Field preparation
The field preparation process was the only fixed process in the LCA plan. This
means the field preparation process was the reference process, and every other
process was scaled in relation to this fixed process. The inputs were the tracked
elementary output flows of the seed, machinery, chemicals, irrigation, and SWRT
processes. Its tracked output was 1000 kg corn grain, with the scaling factor 1 being
fixed. The LCI of the field preparation process for year 2013 irrigated SWRT is
presented in Table 4- 15. The other LCI tables for the four 2012 experiments, 2013
84
Table 4- 15 LCI of field preparation process in irrigated SWRT plan
Outputs
Elementary
flow US: corn, at farm [plant production] 1000 kg
Nitrate [Inorganic emissions to fresh water] 4.1174 kg
Fertilizer
Nitrogen oxides [Inorganic emissions to air] 0.0602 kg
emissions
Phosphorus [Inorganic emissions to fresh water] 0.0235 kg
4.8.2 Harvest
The harvest process refers to harvesting corn grain at the farm and disposal of
the drip tape. As discussed in section 5.3.4 combine harvesting, an ideal assumption
was made that 100% of the produced corn can be harvested. There was no loss
85
between the 1000 kg corn grain output flow in the field preparation process and the
1000 kg corn grain output flow in the harvest process. Drying, stover treatment, and
transportation of goods were not included. The LCI of the harvest process is
Outputs
Corn, grains [Renewable primary products] 1000 kg
Incineration good [Waste for disposal] 6.7677 kg
Municipal solid waste deposition [landfill] 2.7686 kg
Recycling goods [Waste for recovery] 0.7178 kg
This section explains the calculation procedures by which input and output
flows in the field preparation processes were calculated. They are introduced group
by group as divided in Table 4- 15. Also, flows of irrigated SWRT are used as an
harvested mass per unit area, e.g., bushel/acre, kg/ha. Most of the agricultural
consumptions are recorded as mass/ volume/ energy per unit area. The FU in this
86
LCA study is producing 1000 kg corn grain. Here, LU is the intermediate parameter
to convert the consumption information from kg/acre (Acre Cost) into mass/
volume/ energy per 1000 kg corn grain production (FU Cost). The LUs of each
treatment are first calculated based on Eq. 4- 1. The calculated LUs of total six
treatments in 2012 and 2013 experiments are list in Appendix-LCI Table A-8.
Another extensively used parameter is the allocation factor (AF). Corn grain is
one of the output products of the planting process. A portion of responsibility of the
whole cultivation activity loads to grain production. The AF defines the portion,
which varies from 0 to 1. If the corn grain production activity is charged with the
whole corn cultivation duty, AF is 1. If the duty allocated on corn grain is based on
its economic value [11-14], energy content [15], or mass ratio [16], the AF equals
0.79, 0.63 or 0.5, respectively. The mass allocation method (AF=0.5) is the default
The seed flow in the field preparation process for the 2013 irrigated SWRT
𝐴𝑐𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 [𝑘𝑔 /𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒 ] ∗ 𝐿𝑈 [𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒 ] ∗ 𝐴𝐹 = 𝐹𝑈 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 [𝑘𝑔 /𝐹𝑈 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ] (Eq. 4-
2)
The acre cost was 102 kg/acre; it took 0.164 acre to produce 1000 kg corn grain.
87
102 [(𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑑)/𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒] ∗ 0.164 [𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒] ∗ 0.5 = 8.364 [(kg seed)/(FU production)]
Similar to seed flow calculation, the chemical flow calculation use Eq. 4- 2 to
calculate the FU cost of each chemical flow quantity in the field preparation process.
The Acre cost of each type of chemicals is inventoried in Appendix-LCI Table A-9
and Table A-10. The LU values can be found in Appendix-LCI Table A-11. The urea
calculation example:
By checking Appendix-LCI Table A-2 and Appendix-LCI Table A-11, the urea acre
cost =40.8 [kg/acre], and LU irrigated SWRT = 0.164 acre were known.
Machine flows are calculated following Eq. 4-2. Different from the chemical flow,
the LU is the FU cost of machinery flows. The output elementary flows of the
machinery group are 1000 m2. A unit conversion process was required in flow
calculations. The sowing flow and fertilizing flow in field preparation process of
2013 irrigated SWRT treatment were calculated as: (1 acre = 4047 m2)
The tillage flow was a little different from other machinery flows in the
calculation. For NOSWRT treatments (2012 15” Ctrl & 30” Ctrl, 2013 nonirrigated
Ctrl, 2004-2013 simulated Ctrl), there were two tillages per growing season.
Therefore, the quantity was calculated as: 2* FU *4047 [m2/acre] * 0.5. For SWRT
88
treatments (2012 15”SWRT, 30” SWRT, and 2013 irrigated SWRT), the initial
assumption that the SWRT lifetime was 10 years, the annual tillage flow was
calculated as:
For 2013 irrigated SWRT: (1+2*9)*FU/10 * 4047 [m2/acre] * 0.5 = 630.52 [m2 ]
Irrigation and drip tape are the two flows in the irrigation group of field
preparation processes. Irrigation flow (irrigation water [m3]) connects the output of
the drip irrigation process to the input of the field preparation process. Irrigating
To perform the drip tape flow calculation, the drip tape acre cost calculation
need to be done first. Each irrigated plot used 14 irrigation tubes, and each tube was
9.144 m (30 feet) long. Each plot area was 41.8 m2 (450 ft2). Thus, the tube used per
unit area was 14 * 9.144 m / 41.8 m2 = 3.063 [m/ m2]. According to the sampling
measurement, the drip tape was calculated as 9.904 *10-3 [kg/m]. Thus, the mass of
drip tape per irrigation unit area was 9.904 *10-3 [kg/m] * 3.063 [m/ m2] = 3.033 *
10-2 [kg/ m2] (equivalent to 125 [kg/acre]). The remaining calculation procedure for
89
4.9.5 SWRT flow calculation
Polyethylene-film flow and membrane installation flow were the two SWRT
flows in the field preparation processes. The polyethylene film flow describes the
weight of LLDPE used to produce 1000 FU annually. The membrane installation flow
The membrane total surface area used per 10000 m2 (1 hectare) farmland was
15152 m2. The membrane was maintained in a contour shape with width to depth in
the ratio of 2:1. Based on measurement result, the membrane thickness was 7.6E-
5±3E-6 m (3±0.1 mil). The density of LLDPE was about 0.92 [g/cm3 ] (eqv. to 920
[kg/m3]). Thus, the average membrane mass per hectare was 15152 [m2/ha] * 7.6 E-
Given that the SWRT membrane lifetime was 10 years, based on Eq. 4- 3, the
430 [kg/acre] * 0.164 [acre] *0.5 /10 [a] = 3.526 [kg /a]
Because there were no gaps between each membrane strips in the horizontal
direction, the installation area is the farm area that employed SWRT. For irrigated
SWRT treatment, the average annual membrane installation area per FU was:
CO2 in the air is naturally fixed by plants to be used for producing carbohydrates
plants. The CO2 fixed and released by biomass production is called biogenic carbon.
90
From cradle to farm gate perspective, plants could receive credits for reducing the
GHG in the atmosphere. But from the whole life cycle perspective, growing plants
should not receive biogenic carbon dioxide credits. Plants will release the carbon
eventually when they are burned or decomposed. A classic view of point is that the
captured and released CO2 amount should be equal, which is called carbon neutral.
In this study, since the scope is cradle to farm gate, the corn production receives a
carbon credit.
The amount of CO2 fixed per 1000 kg corn production is estimated based on
literature [17-19], which reported 1.494, 1.33, and 1.75 kg CO2 fixed per 1 kg corn
plant production. The estimated CO2 captured per 1000 kg corn grain production is
Crop land was occupied by corn plants for grain production. In the field
preparation process, the land occupation flow refers to the direct land used to
produce 1000 kg corn grain. Even though corn plants only physically occupy the
crop land less than six months (from May to Oct), the whole year of land occupation
was counted. One reason is that no other crops were planted during winter; the
other reason is that the fallow winter benefits the land for the next year’s corn
production. The land occupation flow was calculated using Eq. 4-2:
91
4.9.8 Fertilizer emission flow calculation
fertilizer emission to soil, water and air into consideration. The main impacts to air
are generated from N2O, NH3, and NOx. The major impacts to water are from nitrate
and phosphorus leaching. Impacts to soil are mainly due to heavy metal adhere to
The NOx emission was the main fertilizer emission to air in Sandhill farm
guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, direct N2O emissions from soil
due to nitrogen fertilizer application are about 1% of all applied N [20]. The N2O gas
generation requires anaerobic conditions in the soil. Considering the little anaerobic
environment in sandy soil driven by the large pore size compared to clay, direct N2O
emissions from N application were negligible. NH3 gas formation normally occurs on
the soil surface. But, the high permeability of sandy soil speeds up the N fertilizer
penetration into the soil, and this greatly lessens NH3 formation. The NOx gas
Nitrate and phosphate leaching were the main contamination flows to water.
Nitrate is the form of N that can be directly used by plant growth. Nitrate is
negatively charged and highly water-soluble. In other words, nitrate is less likely to
attach to sandy soil that contains less soil organic matter soil organic matter (SOM)
(positive charge), and easily drains with water. The N drainage rate was about 63%
of the total applied N based on a study [21]. Phosphate leaching to water leached 1.8%
92
Because of the negligible quantity and lack of reliable data, the emission to soil
The emission flows for fertilizer emission were calculated based on Equation 4-
4:
E= F*R*LU*AF (Eq. 4- 4)
where
4.10 Assumptions
This section lists the key assumptions in this study. These assumptions are
significant to this LCA study, either helping to simplify or support the LCI
calculations.
4.10.1 Machinery
The machine production was included as machine cost in the machinery work
flow. They were proportionally loaded to the machinery work flow based on the
93
mower, self-loading-trailer) 1000 h, tillage machine 800 h, combine harvester
1300 h. The basis for the assumption is the agricultural machine weights
Production Systems.
Switzerland, and used in the U.S. Thus, the energy grid to produce the machines
was Swiss energy, and the primary energy (diesel) was U.S. diesel.
Transport machine from factory to the farm was included, same as the
4.10.2 Irrigation
Irrigation cost came from drip tape production, irrigation water use, and
The water pumped from reservoir was 100% used on plant, without losees
The EOL of the drip tape was 66% wt. to incineration, 27% wt. to landfill, and 7%
wt. to recycle.
94
4.10.3 Chemical
The consumption of carrier water and electricity to apply the liquid fertilizers
was a little higher than the 2013 experiment level because of the absence of
liquid fertilizer. (The NPK granular fertilizer application rates were 135-39-112
kg/ha in the 2012 experiment, and 80.2-31.2-80.2 kg/ha in the 2013 experiment)
The AMS and roundup application rate for 2004-2013 simulated treatments
were assumed to be the same as level used in 2012 and 2013 experiments.
4.10.4 Seed
The corn seed used in the experiment had the same environmental footprint
(EFP) as the Switzerland seed that the Ecoinvent v2.2 dataset refers to.
4.10.5 SWRT
The EFP of SWRT machine production was the same as the EFP of the
It took 14.8 hours for the SWRT machine to install membrane in a 1 ha surface
area farm. The diesel consumption of the SWRT machine was 46.9 kg/h.
The SWRT membrane was LLDPE material with uniform 7.6E-5 m (3 mil)
95
The EFP of LLDPE membrane production was equal to EFP of PE membrane
production.
4.10.6 Planting
The amounts of N2O and NH3 direct emission from soil due to N fertilizer
The NPK drainage rates were the same in SWRT and NOSWRT treatments.
The NO3 leaching rate was 63% of total N amendment. The NOx gas emission to
air was 1.8% of total N amendment. The phosphate leaching was 1.8% of total P
addition.
Drying and stover treatment were not included in the harvest process.
manufacture to farm, corn seed from the seed farm to Sandhill farm, SWRT
machine and membrane from factories to farm, and harvest corn grain to storage
barn.
96
APPENDIX
97
APPENDIX
The LCI tables in this section records the entire acre cost for flow quantity calculation and some information to assist in the
LCA calculation.
98
Table A- 1 (cont’d)
sub- 38.1 cm 76.2 cm 38.1 cm 76.2 cm
Group parameter unit
category NOSWRT NOSWRT SWRT SWRT
thickness m 7.6E-5±3E-6
film surface area m2 /ha 15152
density g/cm3 0.92
LLDPE mass kg/ha 1062
SWRT Kg
tractor fuel rate 45.2-48.6
diesel/h
working hours hour /ha 14.8
tractor life time
hour 15000
employed hour
machine weight kg 3000
Chemical granular Urea (32% N) kg/ha 135
phosphorus pentoxide
kg/ha 39
(P2O5) (43.7% P)
potassium chloride
kg/ha 112
(KCl) (47.1% K)
AN[ammonium
liquid kg/ha 52
nitrate]
P[concentrated
kg/ha 30
superphosphate]
K[potassium chloride] kg/ha 18
herbicide AMS kg/ha 19
Rdup-glyphosate kg/ha 3.5
pH-adjust gypsum / lime kg/(ha*a) 2409
CO2 CO2 capture from kg/kg
1.52
binding atmosphere plant
99
Table A- 1 (cont’d)
sub- 38.1 cm 76.2 cm 38.1 cm 76.2 cm
Group parameter unit
category NOSWRT NOSWRT SWRT SWRT
stover ± standard 13376±13
by-product kg/ha 9671±2135 9922±1444 16830±1256
error 19
corn grain commercial
wt. content % 15.5
moisture content
stover oven dried
wt. content % 4
moisture content
root root depth cm 40-55
fertilizer emission to 0
ammonia (NH3) %
emission air
N2O % 0
NOx % 1.8
emission to
nitrate leaching % 63
ground water
phosphorus leaching % 1.8
emission to
phosphorus run-off % 0
surface water
allocation mass (grain) : mass
mass 1 0.5:0.5
method (stover)
energy
grain MJ/kg 53.4
content
stover MJ/kg 31.4
energy (grain) : energy
1 0.63:0.37
(stover)
economic
grain $/ton 214
value
stover $/ton 50-66.7
price (grain) : price
1 0.79:0.21
(stover)
100
Table A- 1 (cont’d)
sub- 38.1 cm 76.2 cm 38.1 cm 76.2 cm
Group parameter unit
category NOSWRT NOSWRT SWRT SWRT
substitute
stover
system
environment stover collected rate % 50
expansion
al impact
from total
ethanol
convention stover ethanol L/kg 0.3
efficiency
Switchgrass ethanol L/kg 0.4
Switchgrass ethanol by
KWh/ kg 0.206
product- electricity
Switchgrass ethanol
net electricity
consumption for 150L kWh 21.75
eqv. ethanol
production
yield of switchgrass ton/ha/a 10
101
LCI of 2013 experiment
102
Table A- 2 (cont’d)
Irrigated- Nonirrigated-
Group sub-category Parameter unit
SWRT NOSWRT
P[concentrated superphosphate] kg/ha 0 0
K[potassium chloride] kg/ha 62.9 0
herbicide AMS kg/ha 19
Rdup-glyphosate kg/ha 3.46
pH-adjust gypsum / lime kg/(ha*a) 2408
CO2 binding CO2 capture from atmosphere kg/kg plant 1.52
Yield main product corn grain kg/ha 11981±359 3544±957
harvest index 0.49 0.58
by-product stover kg/ha 15679 3227
corn grain commercial moisture
wt. content %
content 15.5
wt. content stover oven dried moisture content % 4
root root depth cm 48 122
fertilizer emission to
ammonia (NH3) %
emission air 0
N2O % 0
NOx % 1.80
emission to
nitrate leaching %
ground water 63
phosphorus emission through soil
emission to
erosion by water+ phosphorus %
surface water
leaching 1.80
allocation
mass mass (grain) : mass (stover) 1 (cont’d)
method 0.5:0.5
energy
grain MJ/kg
content 53.4
stover MJ/kg 31.4
103
Table A- 2 (cont’d)
Irrigated- Nonirrigated-
Group sub-category Parameter unit
SWRT NOSWRT
energy (grain) : energy (stover) 1 0.63:0.37
economic
value (2011 grain $/ton
USDA) 214
stover $/ton 50-66.7
price (grain) : price (stover) 1 0.79:0.21
system substitute
expansion stover
environmental stover collected rate % 50
impact from
total
ethanol
convention stover ethanol L/kg
efficiency 0.3
Switchgrass ethanol L/kg 0.4
Switchgrass ethanol by product-
KWh/ kg
electricity 0.206
Switchgrass ethanol net electricity
consumption for 150L eqv. ethanol KWh
production 21.75
yield of switchgrass ton/ha/a 10
104
LCI of 2004-2013 experiment
105
Table A- 3 (cont’d)
NOSWRT NOSWRT
Group sub-category parameter unit SWRT
irrigated nonirrigated
granular urea kg/ha 134
P2O5 kg/ha 36
K2 O kg/ha 80
herbicide AMS kg/ha 19
Chemical
Rdup-glyphosate kg/ha 3.5
pH-adjust gypsum / lime kg/(ha*a) 5950
kg/kg
CO2 binding CO2 capture from atmosphere 1.52
plant
main product corn grain kg/ha appendix 2-3
by-product stover kg/ha appendix 2-3
corn grain commercial moisture
wt. content % 15.5
content
Yield
wt. content stover oven dried moisture content % 4
Harvest index-grain percentage over
Harvest Index % 50
total
root root depth cm 122
emission to
NH3 % 0
air
N2O % 0
Fertilizer
NOx % 1.8
emission
emission to
nitrate leaching % 63
fresh water
phosphorus leaching % 1.8
106
Table A- 3 (cont’d)
NOSWRT NOSWRT
Group sub-category parameter unit SWRT
irrigated nonirrigated
mass mass (grain) : mass (stover) 1 0.5:0.5
energy
grain MJ/kg 53.4
content
stover MJ/kg 31.4
Allocation energy (grain) : energy (stover) 1 0.63:0.37
method economic
value (2011 grain $/ton (cont’d) 214
USDA)
stover $/ton 50-66.7
price (grain) : price (stover) 1 0.79:0.63
substitute
stover
environmenta stover collected rate % 50
l impact from
total
ethanol
System
convention stover ethanol L/kg 0.3
expansion
efficiency
Switchgrass ethanol L/kg 0.4
Switchgrass ethanol by product-
KWh/ kg 0.206
electricity
Switchgrass ethanol net electricity
consumption for 150L eqv. ethanol KWh 21.75
production
yield of switchgrass ton/ha/a 10
107
SALUS settings and simulation results
Unit/
Category Item Value comment
Planting date May 15
plant population 18.06 plant/m2
method seed
distribution row
row spacing 38.1 cm
30% of max. available at 25cm
Irrigation threshold for automatic apply water depth
threshold for automatic apply incorporate
Fertilizer urea 95% N stress factor at 2 cm depth
Tillage date of 1st one-way disk date May 13
date of 2nd one-way disk date Oct 10
Harvest Harvest 99% product Harvest at maturity
108
Yield and irrigation water used of simulation results
Aggregate:
Nonirrigated 10% irrigated+90%
Irrigated NOSWRT NOSWRT nonirrigated
year yield Irrigation yield Irrigation yield Irrigation
unit [kg/acre] [m3/acre] [kg/acre] [m3/acre] [kg/acre] [m3/acre]
2004 5057.6 79 4877.3 0 4895.3 7.9
2005 3511.3 157 2637.3 0 2724.7 15.7
2006 3872.1 159 3628.8 0 3653.1 15.9
2007 3306.6 319 2425.3 0 2513.4 31.9
2008 3658.1 318 2128.2 0 2281.2 31.8
2009 4073.2 160 3907.2 0 3923.8 16.0
2010 3431.4 240 2858.3 0 2915.6 24.0
2011 4389.5 163 4304.6 0 4313.1 16.3
2012 3439.2 320 2787.5 0 2852.6 32.0
2013 4388.5 79 3858.7 0 3911.7 7.9
109
Land uses (LUs) of experiments to produce 1000 kg corn grain
LU
Treatment
acre m2
38.1 cm SWRT 0.147 595
76.2 cm SWRT 0.185 749
2012
38.1 cm NOSWRT 0.255 1032
76.2 cm NOSWRT 0.249 1008
Irrigated-SWRT 0.164 835
2013
Non-irrigated-NOSWRT 0.555 2820
This part of the document provides the field preparation process, LCI table of 2012
experiments, 2013 nonirrigated NOSWRT, and 2004-2013 simulated data. These LCIs are
created based on the same principles with different input levels. Here, the equations to
calculate each flow quantity are summarized. The input/output levels are available to look
110
Field preparation process LCIs of experiment treatments
111
t2 is drip tape lifetime, a default value t2=1 year;
LU is the land use to produce one unit FU; the specific values of different treatments are list
Different from experimental treatments with single year data, simulated treatments
have ten continuous year data. In experimental treatments, SWRT burdens are evenly
loaded to every year, while in simulated treatments, SWRT burdens are charged totally to
112
Table A- 10 Field preparation process flow calculations of simulated treatments
where,
S is SWRT factor, when it is the first year to install SWRT, S=1; otherwise, S=0;
113
LU is land use to produce one unit FU; the specific values of different treatments are list in
where
20+ means if SWRT will lead to yield increase by 20% compared to NOSWRT.
114
Drip tape sampling records
Drip tapes were collected and measured in 5 replicates to estimate the mass per unit
length. Each replicate was 0.25 m in length. The mass was recorded in the following table.
115
REFERENCES
116
REFERENCES
1. NASS. U.S. Corn Yield Statistics from Year 1983 to Year 2013 by USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service. 2013 [cited 2013 Nov.].
4. Farnham, D., Corn Planting Guide, D. Marks, Editor. 2001, Department of Agronomy,
Iowa State University. p. 8.
5. Basso, F., M. Pisante, and B. Basso, 25 Soil Erosion and Land Degradation.
Mediterranean desertification: A mosaic of processes and responses, 2003: p. 347.
6. UWEX, C.E.o. Grain Harvesting. Corn Agronomy 2014 [cited 2014 Mar 19, 2014];
Available from: http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/Management/L032.aspx.
7. Perlman, H. Irrigation water use. 2005 Mar 17, 2014 [cited 2014 Apr 1]; Available
from: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/wuir.html.
9. Levitan, l., Use and Disposal of Agricultural Plastics in Prohibition of Open Burning of
Solid Waste in New York State, e.r.a. Program, editor. 2004, Cornell University: Ithaca.
10. Nelson, D., Nebraska OECD Tractor Test 1801–Summary 367 John Deere 8520 Diesel
16 Speed. 2002, Agricultural Research Division Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources: Lincoln.
11. USDA. Agricultural Prices. 2011 Dec 30, 2011 [cited 2013 Sep 1st]; Available from:
http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/nass/AgriPric/2010s/2011/AgriPric-12-
30-2011.pdf.
117
12. Jena Thompson and W.E. Tyner. Corn Stover for Bioenergy Production: Cost Estimates
and Farmer Supply Response. Renewable Energy [cited 2013 Sep 1]; Available from:
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/RE-3-W.pdf.
13. Edwards, W. Estimating a Value for Corn Stover. Ag Decision Maker 2011 Dec 2011
[cited 2013 Sep 1st]; Available from:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a1-70.pdf.
14. Koundinya, V. Corn Stover. renewable energy 2009 Nov 2009 [cited 2013 Sep 1];
Available from: http://www.agmrc.org/renewable_energy/corn-stover.
15. Gelfand, I., S.S. Snapp, and G.P. Robertson, Energy efficiency of conventional, organic,
and alternative cropping systems for food and fuel at a site in the US Midwest.
Environmental science & technology, 2010. 44(10): p. 4006-4011.
16. Kim, S., B.E. Dale, and R. Jenkins, Life cycle assessment of corn grain and corn stover in
the United States. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2009. 14(2): p.
160-174.
17. PE-GaBi, Corn, whole plant, at field, U.S.L. Database, Editor. 2009, PE-Gabi.
18. PE International, L.-G., Corn grain (field border), L.-G. PE International, Editor. 2012,
PE-GaBi.
19. MONSANTO. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Corn. 2013 [cited 2013
Sep 30]; Available from:
http://www.americasfarmers.com/2014/01/29/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-
know-about-corn/.
20. (IPCC), I.P.O.C.C., 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
Institutefor Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan, 2006.
21. Guber, A., Nitrate emissions on Sandhill farm using 2-D hydrus model, in 2-D hydrus
modling SWRT. 2014, Michigan State University: East Lansing.
118
Results and interpretation
This chapter describes the results and interpretation of the SWRT LCA study. It is
divided into the following sections: a) completeness check, b) consistency check, and 3)
contribution analysis. The evaluation of the result quality was performed to identify
significant issues such as data gaps, data inconsistencies, and wrong use of data with the
completeness. This step helps to investigate the completeness level concerning processes
in the LCA framework. Table 5-1 provides the basic completeness check of the data and
indicates that the inventories of the studied treatments were completeness at a satisfactory
level. A minor number of flow values were missing, so they were logically assumed.
119
Table 5- 1 Completeness check
2012 2013 Simulation
15'' 30'' 15'' 30'' Irrigated Non-
unit process SWRT SWRT Ctrl Ctrl SWRT irrigated Ctrl SWRT Ctrl
Machinery harvest × × × × × × × ×
fertilizing × × × × × × × ×
sowing × × × × × × × ×
tillage × × × × × × × ×
Chemical gypsum * * × × * * *! *!
roundup × × × × × × ! !
AMS × × × × × × ! !
KCl × × × × × × Ω Ω
P2O5 × × × × × × Ω Ω
urea × × × × × × Ω Ω
AN × × × × × ×
K2O × × × × × ×
Irrigation water × × × × × × × ×
drip irrigation × × × × × × × ×
electricity × × × × × × × ×
drip tape × × × × × × × ×
pipe incineration ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆
pipe landfill ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆
pipe recycle ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆
Seed seed × × × × × × × ×
120
Table 5- 1 (cont’d)
2012 2013 Simulation
15'' 30'' 15'' 30'' Irrigated Non-
unit process SWRT SWRT Ctrl Ctrl SWRT irrigated Ctrl SWRT Ctrl
SWRT PE membrane × × × × × × × ×
membrane install × × × × × × × ×
tillage machine
production × × × × × × × ×
tractor production × × × × × × × ×
diesel × × × × × × × ×
shed × × × × × × × ×
Planting Field Preparation × × × × × × × ×
Harvest × × × × × × × ×
where
×-completeness
*- missing gypsum applied level for SWRT, assuming SWRT use the same level as Ctrl;
!- missing herbicide level for Simulation, assuming the same level used as experiments;
∆- incineration, landfill, and recycle percentage of HDPE drip tape not found, assumed values based on literature.
121
5.1.2 Consistency check
data were applied consistently throughout the LCA study [1]. The consistent applications of
the LCA methodology and the LCI inventory data were two of the major aspects evaluated
The methodological issues were first evaluated according to several aspects, such as the
LCI modelling framework, approaches, setting of system boundaries, the consistency in the
impact assessment, and other assumptions. The LCA study was conducted as an
attributional LCA study for every group and treatment. The mass allocation approach was
used as a default to solve the multifunction issues; the system boundaries of the inputs and
system were cradle to gate; and comparisons between treatments were under the same
impact assessment methodology- ReCiPe midpoint 1.07 (H); and the key assumptions were
The second part was to investigate the consistency of the LCI. The data accuracy, data
to evaluate the representativeness of the LCI. Table 5-2 presents the results of the
122
Table 5- 2 Consistency check
Data Time-related Geographical
Check Source Accuracy age Technology coverage coverage coverage
harvesting database good 14 commercial level 1991-2001 Switzerland ₅
fertilizing database good 14 commercial level 1999-2001 Switzerland ₅
Machinery
sowing database good 14 commercial level 1999-2001 Switzerland ₅
tillage database good 14 commercial level 1991-2002 Switzerland ₅
gypsum ₁ database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 Germany
roundup database good <3 commercial level 2000-2010 Europe
AMS database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
K2O database good 15 commercial level 2000 Europe
Chemical
P2O5 database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
urea database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
AN database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
KCl (liquid) database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
irrigation water database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 Europe
drip irrigation literature caution 13 commercial level 1991-2002 Switzerland
electricity database good 14 commercial level 1999-2001 US
Irrigation
drip tape database good 10 commercial level 2005-2012 Europe
₂
pipe landfill database good <3 commercial level 2011-2015 US
pipe incineration database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 Europe
pipe recycle database good <3 commercial level 2011-2014 US
Significant lower yield
Seed seed database good 15 than MI average 2000 Switzerland
123
Table 5- 2 (cont’d)
1- Gypsum applied level of SWRT treatments was consistently assumed to be identical as the Ctrl treatments;
4- The yields of 2012 15”SWRT and 30”SWRT were significantly higher than the average corn yield in Ingham County (MI,
U.S.), while yield of 2013 nonirrigated Ctrl were reported significant lower than the Ingham average;
124
Table 5- 2 (cont’d)
5- The primary energy supplies to the machinery group were substituted from Switzerland diesel to US diesel, the
remaining secondary energy supply was unchanged. That is to say, the energy used to power the agricultural machine
was US diesel, and the energy used to support machine production and transportation from factory to farm was still
Switzerland.
125
5.1.3 Contribution analysis
The contribution of each group of processes to the total LCIA is investigated in the
contribution analysis. The contribution analysis provides a comprehensive view of the LCA
study to identify the major contributors and reveals insights about where to concentrate
additional energy and time to improve the robustness of the study. A summary of the
contribution analysis results is presented in Figure 5-1 and 5-2. The contributions of each
group process are evaluated using ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint indicators. The figures
indicate that, for treatments using irrigation, the irrigation group takes up a significant
weight on the water depletion, terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, fossil depletion, and
agricultural land occupation impact categories; for treatments without irrigation, the
impacts from machinery, chemical, and seed are magnified to considerable levels due to the
irrigation absence of irrigation. The planting group displays great contributions in the
The LCIA values and relative contributions of each flow are presented in Appendix A5-
126
Machinery Chemical Irrigation Seed SWRT Planting
Water depletion
Terrestrial acid.
Human toxicity
Freshwater eutro.
Freshwater…
Fossil depletion
Climate change
Agricultural…
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Water depletion
Terrestrial acid.
Human toxicity
Freshwater eutro.
Freshwater ecotoxi.
Fossil depletion
Climate change
Agricultural land occ.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 5- 1 Contribution analysis of 2012 SWRT treatments: 15”SWRT (left top), 30’’SWRT (right
top), 15” Ctrl (left bottom), and 30” Ctrl (right bottom)
127
Machinery Chemical Irrigation Seed SWRT Planting
Water depletion
Terrestrial acid.
Human toxicity
Freshwater eutro.
Freshwater ecotoxi.
Fossil depletion
Climate change
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Water depletion
Terrestrial acid.
Human toxicity
Freshwater eutro.
Freshwater ecotoxi.
Fossil depletion
Climate change
Agricultural land occ.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 5- 2 Contribution analysis of 2013 Irrigated SWRT (left top), Nonirrigated Ctrl (right top), 2004
simulated Ctrl (left bottom), and 2004 simulated SWRT (right bottom)
128
5.2 LCIA Results
The LCIA results of six experimental treatments were analyzed using the ReCiPe 1.07 (H)
midpoint methodology. This methodology covers 18 impact categories, and 8 of them were
selected to investigate the analyzed treatments. The chosen impact categories were
human toxicity, terrestrial acidification, and water depletion. To perform the comparisons,
the LCIA results of the experimental treatments were summarized by impact categories. In
addition, the contribution analysis concluded that the irrigation group had large
contributions to 6 of the 8 impact categories. So, the irrigation group was individually
presented at the unit process level. In the second part of the LCIA result section, the LCIA
results of a few published corn LCA studies are summarized and compared as benchmark
studies. Since the results of these studies were reported using mixed impact assessment
129
5.2.1 LCIA Results of experimental treatments
Figure 5-3 indicates that the agricultural land occupation impacts are mainly from the
planting and seed groups. The planting group accounts for the direct land use to produce
1000 kg of corn grain. The order of impacts from the planting group for the six experiment
treatments is 15’SWRT < Irrigated SWRT < 30”SWRT < 30” Ctrl < 15” Ctrl < Nonirrigated
Ctrl, which is reversed to the yield order. This explanation is confirmed by the reverse
order of yield. The second highest contributor group is seed. The corn seed unit process
takes land occupation into account. Therefore, the land occupation burden from corn seed
should be accounted for when corn seeds are used for corn grain production.
130
Figure 5- 4 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Climate Change
Figure 5-4 indicates the contribution of every group to the total climate change. The
irrigation group (including drip tape EOL, drip tape production, irrigation electricity, and
irrigation water) is the biggest producer, taking up 65%-73% of the total climate change
impact. When further analyzed, about 50% of the burden in the irrigation group was
derived from the water amendment activity. On average, every extra cubic meter of water
incurred burden from water and pump electricity consumption. The remaining about 50%
of the burdens for the irrigation group came from the irrigation system infrastructure (i.e.,
drip tape production and pipe EOL). Since there was no artificial water amendment in the
2013 nonirrigated Ctrl, though its yield is the lowest, the nonirrigated Ctrl treatment
131
Figure 5- 5 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Fossil Depletion
Figure 5-5 shows the fossil depletion midpoint impact, which has a similar pattern to
climate change. A significant difference between them is that the portion of drip tape EOL
Figure 5-6 shows the main impact sources of freshwater ecotoxicity and freshwater
eutrophication. More than 80% of the impacts were due to fertilizer emissions embedded
in the planting group. From the soil electrical conductivity experiments which were
discussed in the planting group calculation procedure in the LCI chapter, and Hydrus 2D
modelling results [2], there was a lack of evidence to model a significant difference in
fertilizer emissions between the SWRT and the Ctrl treatments. Thus, the fertilizer
emission impacts linearly correlate to the fertilizer application level, and are inverse
132
correlated to the yields. Therefore, a natural recommendation will be avoiding excessive
133
Figure 5- 6 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Freshwater Ecotoxicity (top) and freshwater
eutrophication (bottom)
134
Figure 5- 7 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Human Toxicity
The machinery group is the greatest source of the LCIA human toxicity. The diesel
consumption to power the machinery was responsible for approximately 70% of the
machinery impacts, while machine production was responsible for about 25%. The
remaining 3-5% burden of the machinery group was mainly caused by the non-methane
burdens from water and electricity consumption rank second and third, respectively.
The irrigation group takes up the greatest amount of fossil depletion and human
toxicity impact, but there was an obvious pattern difference between the two impacts. In
the fossil depletion category, the absent of irrigation reduces the total kg of oil equivalent
consumption, so the Nonirrigated Ctrl has the lowest impacts. In contrast, due to the lowest
yield of the Nonirrigated Ctrl, the human toxicity impact was significantly magnified by the
135
use of machinery and the seed group impacts. So, the nonirrigated Ctrl was the one with
highest impacts.
Figure 5-8 reveals that the irrigation electricity impacts the most to the terrestrial
acidification impacts. The contributions from machinery, irrigation water, drip tape
production, SWRT and seed groups are all at similar levels. A common trigger reason to
produce terrestrial acidification is fuel burning. When a petroleum based fuel is burned, a
lot of S and N gases are emitted, such as NO2, NOx and SO2. Thus, processes involving power
use incurred larger terrestrial acidification impact scores. The terrestrial acidification
impact from the planting group is different from the others since most of the impact
136
Figure 5- 9 ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint of Water Depletion
The water depletion impact category takes both direct and indirect water use into
consideration. Irrigation water, the greatest one, is direct water use. The impacts from the
Figure 5-9 shows that the SWRT treatments consumed more water to produce 1000 kg
Most of the indirect water used is spent on water used for turbine cooling for
production of all chemical, machinery and seed groups. This is a characteristic of how
water depletion for ReCiPe 1.07 (H) is implemented in GaBi 6.0, which considers water for
137
5.2.2 Benchmark of published studies
To evaluate whether the LCIA results obtained in this study were in the acceptable
range, the results were compared with published LCA corn grain studies.
The LCA of corn grain and corn stover in the United States published by Kim and Dale [3]
was one of the main published studies used for comparison since this study’s results are
representative of the US Midwest production. The sampling datasets for this study were
from multiple locations, so it was possible to overcome the soil, climate, and management
variations across US. Corn production datasets used in this study were taken from eight
counties in seven different states producing the majority of US corn. Another important
published data source used for comparisons was available LCA databases. The LCI of
several corn studies are available in the PE international database, Ecoinvent 2.2v, and the
USLCI datasets, which have undergone different levels of review. An additional advantage
of comparing results of this study with corn grain datasets from databases is the flexibility
in adapting the assessment methodology. In contrast, not all published corn studies are 100%
LCI transparent about their assumptions, geographical and boundary conditions to afford
reproducing the studies. Different published studies reported their results using different
methodologies. Results calculated from different methodologies on the same impact area
cannot easily be compared without extensive reverse data engineering of the involved
process. Thus, the benchmark comparisons of this study with previous results are listed in
separate tables.
Table 5- 3 shows the results conducted by Kim and Dale [3]. Table 5- 4 shows the LCIA
from database and results of this study. By comparing Table 5- 3 and Table 5- 4, on average,
138
the air acidification and climate change impact values of this study results are 66% and 33%
respectively lower than the Kim and Dale published study. This might be owing to the less
gas emissions from fertilizer in sandy soil compared to loamy and clay soil. As discussed
before, the NH3, N2O are less often produced in sandy soil due to its high soil permeability.
139
Table 5- 3 Published corn grain study result for reference [3]
Table 5- 4 Comparison of LCIA from database and published studied results, and the 2012 and 2013 SWRT and Ctrl results
140
5.3 Scenario comparisons
was assumed that in 2004, SWRT was initially installed on the Sandhill farm. The
total environmental burden for using SWRT was loaded to 2004. Then, it was
assumed that SWRT increased corn grain yield by 20%, 30%, 50%, 80%, 100%,
200%, and 300% compared to the Ctrl treatment yield, with the remaining the rest
input and output levels the same. The extra yield diluted the environmental burden
of corn grain production and reduced the impact. The impact differences between
SWRT and Ctrl are the credit for using SWRT. The time required to pay off the SWRT
initial burden was calculated. When the SWRT burden was no larger than the sum of
the SWRT benefits, the SWRT burdens were paid off. Figure 5-10 uses the climate
change impact as an example to explain the calculation process. The SWRT burden
was the difference between the original 2004 SWRT column and the original 2004
Ctrl column, which is the distance marked by the black arrow in Figure 5-10. If
SWRT increased yield by 20% every year from 2004 to 2013, the SWRT benefits
were the differences between the original column and the 20%+ column, which
were marked as the red color right parenthesis. Based on the calculations, until the
end of the growing season in 2013, the SWRT burden was still larger than the sum of
SWRT benefits. Then, the conclusion was drawn that if SWRT increased yield by
141
20%, it took more than 10 years to pay off SWRT burden when considering the
A summary of time to pay off the SWRT burden according to the yield increasing
scenarios on selected eight impact categories using ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint
indicator is shown in Table 5-5. Climate change, fossil depletion, and terrestrial
acidification are the impact categories that take relatively long times to pay off the
SWRT burden. If SWRT utilization increased yield by 100%, the SWRT burden can
SWRT effective lifetime since polyethylene membranes are not impacted due to
biodegradation [7].
250
200
150 Burden
100 Benefits
50
0
2004 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Ctrl SWRT
142
Table 5- 5 Time [year] to pay-off SWRT burden if yield increase due to SWRT
application
20%+ 30%+ 50%+ 80%+ 100%+ 200%+ 300%+
Agricultural land
occupation 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Climate change >10 >10 7 5 5 4 4
Fossil depletion >10 >10 >10 >10 9 6 6
Freshwater
ecotoxicity 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Freshwater
eutrophication 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Human toxicity 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Terrestrial
acidification >10 9 7 5 5 4 3
Water depletion 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
In the LCI chapter it was mentioned that the drip tapes were disposed every year
after harvest. After field observations and disposal pipe sample collection were
performed, it was observed that there were no issues of either broken tubes or
production and drip tape EOL processes retained a significant weight on the climate
categories.
experts, who were consulted, suggested that usually drip tape could be used for up
to 4 years. So, the drip tape lifetime was considered as a scenario for comparison
143
pipe, and scenario II is a 4 year lifetime. In scenario II, the main reductions are
observed in the climate change, fossil depletion, human toxicity, and terrestrial
acidification categories (as presented in Figure 5-11 to 5-14), while the other four
144
Machinery Chemical
Irrigation water Irrigation electricity
Irrigation pipe production irrigation pipe EOL
200 Seed SWRT
180
160
kg CO2 eqv.
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Machinery Chemical
Irrigation water Irrigation electricity
Irrigation pipe production irrigation pipe EOL
MJ Nonrewable resource
60
50
40
30
20
10
145
45 Machinery Chemical
40 Irrigation water Irrigation electricity
35 Irrigation pipe production irrigation pipe EOL
30 Seed SWRT
kg 1,4-DB eqv.
25
20
15
10
5
0
Machinery Chemical
Irrigation water Irrigation electricity
1.2 Irrigation pipe production irrigation pipe EOL
Seed SWRT
1.0 Planting
0.8
kg SO2 eqv.
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Corn production activity produced corn grain and corn stover simultaneously.
Methods were needed to assign the environmental footprint of corn grain and
stover. The ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 [8, 9] provided guidelines that, whenever
possible, system expansion should be used to estimate the studied activity/ process
allocation method is preferable. Allocation was used in this study was aimed to
partition and distribute the EFP of corn grain over the corn stover. In general,
Allocation is one of the most controversial issues in the LCA methodology. There
are two aspects that lead an allocation method to be less convincing: the allocation
factor is an arbitrary value that is unable to represent the real EFP distributions; the
allocation fails to consider the displacement effects and additional treatment of the
co-products before displacement takes place [10]. Several studies of corn [11, 12]
reported that allocation methods are a highly sensitive parameter affecting the
results. The choice of allocation method can significantly influence and/or even shift
the results.
The mass allocation method was used to partition the EFP of corn grain from
whole corn plant production. To ensure the robustness of this study, scenarios of
147
were: allocation all on grain, allocation by economic value, allocation by energy
The reason for the allocation all on grain scenario was based on the initial
purpose of corn planting. The field corn was planted for corn grain production. And
none of the stover was collected but left behind to protect the soil fertility for corn
growing in the coming years. Thus, it was reasonable to charge the total EFP on corn
grain, even though stover was produced. In the allocation all on grain scenario, the
the total EFP on grain was if was unnecessary to abandon the stover totally on the
field to maintain the soil sustainability [13]. In other words, the unnecessary stover
waste should not being accounted on the corn grain, and corn stover was
responsible for part of the EPF. As explained in detail in the section 5.9 calculation
procedures, the AF of corn grain are 0.79 for economic value, 0.63 for energy
System expansion was performed to substitute the stover from the whole corn
switchgrass biomass production. Then, the substituted EFP was deducted from the
EPF of corn biomass production. The EFP left behind was expected to be the EFP of
corn grain.
means approximately 1,000 kg of corn stover is produced at the same time [3]. A
148
general level of maximum stover collection is 50%, which is constrained by the
tolerable soil loss that stover collection can be allowed without causing adverse
effects on soil and water resources [13]. Therefore, 500 kg stover was collected for
stover ethanol production. With the stover to ethanol conversion rate being 0.3 L
ethanol / kg stover[14], about 150 L stover- ethanol was produced from 500 kg
stover. Assuming the function and quantity were identical between stover ethanol
and switchgrass ethanol, the same volume (150 L) ethanol required 375 kg
[15]. The co-produced electricity was less than the total electricity consumption
during the switchgrass ethanol conversion process. The assumption was made that
the co-produced electricity was fully utilized for ethanol. The inputs/outputs stock
of switchgrass production were derived from references [16, 17]. The inventory of
(Mathworks, Natick, MA). Then, the LCIA of 375 kg switchgrass biomass production,
named as EFP stover, was calculated from the stover inventory. The last step was to
follow Equation 5-1 to calculate the EFP of 1000 kg of corn grain by subtracting the
EFP 1000 kg corn grain = EFP 2000 kg corn biomass - EFP 375 kg switchgrass biomass (Equation 5-1)
149
Corn biomass
2000 kg
Switchgrass biomass
50% left 50% collect 375 kg
500 kg 500 kg
land use impact are presented in Figure 5-16. The figure implies that using different
allocation methods cannot change the relative EFP order among treatments, but the
absolutely value is highly sensitive to the allocation method. Full results of the
allocation scenarios on the eight selected impact categories are in Appendix B5-
Allocation scenarios. The results indicate that the relative ranking conclusion of this
150
2500 all on grain (100%)
Agricultural land occ. [m2*a] economic (79%)
2000
energy (63%)
mass (50%)
1500
system expansion (whole corn plant - stover)
1000
500
0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Cotrol 30" Cotrol Irrigated Non-irrigated
SWRT Ctrl
The ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint is the default assessment methodology in this
study. As suggested by the LCA guidelines for grains and oilseeds [18], the following
impact categories should be covered in the LCA grain studies: global warming, water
ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. The ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint Methodology was
discussed in section 2.4 Impact Assessment, the characterization factors are not
151
address this concern, scenarios on climate change (kg CO2 equivalent) in five impact
assessment methodologies (ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint, Impact 2002+ v2.1, TRACI
2.1, CML 2001-Nov.2010, IPCC global warming include biogenic carbon ) were
evaluated.
200
150
100
50
0
ReCiPe 1.07 I02+ v2.1 - TRACI 2.1, CML2001 - Nov. IPCC global
Midpoint (H) - Global warming Global Warming 2010, Global warming, incl
Climate change 500yr - Air Warming biogenic carbon
Midpoint Potential (GWP
100 years), incl
biogenic carbon
Figure 5-17 shows the relative order among the treatments is slightly different
under different methodologies. For ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint and TRACI 2.1
treatments are relatively smaller than when using the Impact 2002+, CML 2001, and
IPCC methodologies that include credits for biogenic CO2 , in Gabi 6.0. Due to the
152
increased differences, the order of the climate change impact values is slightly
different. The order is shifted between irrigated SWRT and 30” Ctrl. This implies
that the choice of impact assessment methodology has an effect on the results. Thus,
153
5.4 Uncertainty analyses
was performed first. A pedigree matrix [19] was used to assess dataset standard
deviation (SD). Then, Monte Carlo simulation was performed on the datasets with
high SD. The outputs of the Monte Carlo simulations were considered as mean of
LCIA and the SD of the simulated mean. The number of Monte Carlo simulation runs
The main results obtained in this study were calculated by using the mean value
of the experimental yields, which were used to calculate the LU values (parameters)
for each studied treatment. Since large uncertainty was found in yield values, these
section, the LU was shown to be highly sensitive to the results. Therefore, Monte
from experiments. However, LUs directly participated in the flow calculations. Since
154
the SD of the LUs was unknown, a Monte Carlo simulation was performed to
It was assumed that the yield of the treatments followed a normal distribution
with the SD of the experiments. Based on Equation 5-1, the LUs of the treatments
were calculated from the randomly taken yields in the 95% confidence interval (CI).
In other words, the yields of each treatment were simulated 100,000 times. Then
100,000 LU values were computed from the simulated yields, together with the SD
of the LUs. Table 5-6 presents the LU means directly calculated from the yields, LU
means from the Monte Carlo simulation, and the SD of the simulated LU mean.
After the SD values of the LUs were estimated, another Monte Carlo simulation
was performed, using the simulated LU mean and the SD of the simulated LU mean.
The goal of this Monte Carlo simulation was to evaluate the LU uncertainty effect on
uncertainty effect on LCIA values. A two tail Z-test was performed at the 95% CI. In
the same figure, columns containing the same letter indicate that there was no
155
significant difference between two compared mean values. Letter “a” indicates the
lowest.
Figure 5-18 implies that the experimental means and Monte Carlo means are
very close, which indicates that the simulations reproduced the results very well.
From the two tail comparisons, the 15” SWRT and Irrigated SWRT do not have
significant differences; there was no significant difference among 30” SWRT, 30” Ctrl,
and Irrigated SWRT; the highest and second highest land occupation treatment were
156
1600
d
Experiment Mean
1400
Monte Carlo Mean
1200
1000
c
800 b
600 b ab
400 a
200
0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 18 Agricultural land occ. [m2 * a], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest,
using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
Experiment Mean
250
bc Monte Carlo Mean
b
200 b
abc ac a
150
100
50
0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 19 Climate change [kg CO2 eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest,
using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
157
Figure 5-19 shows that according to the Monte Carlo simulation runs there were
no differences among the 2012 treatment means and among the 2013 treatment
means. This indicates that SWRT and irrigation application did not increase the
climate change burden significantly. The relatively large SD of the 15” Ctrl and
Figure 5-20 implies that the 2012 Ctrl treatments had relatively lower fossil
depletion impact than the 2012 SWRT treatments. The Nonirrigated Ctrl being
significantly lower than Irrigated SWRT suggested that SWRT combined with
irrigation treatment significantly increased the fossil depletion burden over the
60.0 b b
50.0
a
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 20 Fossil depletion [kg oil eqv.], columns with the different lower case
letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest,
using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
158
14.00
Experiment Mean d
12.00
Monte Carlo Mean
cd
10.00 d
8.00 c
b
6.00
a
4.00
2.00
0.00
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 21 Freshwater ecotoxi. [Kg 1, 4 -DB eqv.], columns with the different lower
case letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the
lowest, using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
0.14 d
Experiment Mean
0.12 Monte Carlo Mean
0.10 d
d
0.08
c
0.06 b
a
0.04
0.02
0.00
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
159
60
Experiment Mean c
50 Monte Carlo Mean
40 bc
30 b
ab ab
a
20
10
0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 23 Human toxicity. [Kg 1, 4 -DB eqv.], columns with the different lower
case letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the
lowest, using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
Experiment Mean
1.2 b ab Monte Carlo Mean
b ab
1.0
a a
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 24 Terrestrial acidification [kg SO2 eqv.], columns with the different lower
case letters are statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the
lowest, using the simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
160
Figure 5-21 and 5-22 show a similar pattern. Irrigated SWRT is the lowest, and
Nonirrigated Ctrl, 2012 Ctrl treatments are the highest. 2012 Ctrl treatments are
slightly higher than SWRT treatments. The driving reason for these results is the
yield.
impact indicator. Despite an obvious mean difference that can be seen between
15”Ctrl and 30” Ctrl, when considering the large SD of 15” Ctrl, they are statistically
the same. This changed the conclusions that was simply drawn from the
Ctrl are similar to comparisons between 15”Ctrl and 30” Ctrl, in which conclusions
161
350 Experiment Mean
Monte Carlo Mean
cd
300
d bcd
250
200 c
ab
150 a
100
50
0
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated Nonirrigated
SWRT Ctrl
Figure 5- 25 Water depletion [m3], columns with the different lower case letters are
statistically significant different at 95% CI, with a indicating the lowest, using the
simulated LU mean and SD of simulated LU mean
Table 5-7 compares the water consumption of the experimental treatments. The
direct water application level is the irrigation water given to the plant based on
observations and experience. The number in brackets right after each number is the
order of the value in that column, with (1) indicating the lowest. The direct water
162
consumptions in the unit of [m3/FU] represent the water consumption per FU. This
parameter not only considers the absolute water used, but also indicates a relatively
water spent when considering the yield effect. The last column summarizes the
statistic difference according to two-tail Z-test comparisons, which has the identical
letters in Figure 5-25. Since the total water consumption includes both direct and
By comparing the yields and the irrigation applied to the 2012 SWRT treatments
contrast, no irrigation cut off the direct water use at the beginning, but the low yield
led to high cost in the indirect water consumption. The Nonirrigated Ctrl is a good
example, which ranks the lowest in direct water comparisons while ranking the
economical and environmentally preferable, such as irrigated SWRT and 30” Ctrl.
Appendix 5C-Pedigree matrix Table 5C-1), the diesel consumption rate of SWRT
installation, drip tape production, and seed were selected to be evaluated by the
Monte Carlo method. The results from the Monte Carlo simulations implied that
despite the great uncertainty with these parameters, they all had limited effect on
the LCIA results (as detailed in Appendix B5 Pedigree Matrix Table B5-1-a, B5-1-b,
and B5-1-c)
163
APPENDICES
164
Appendix A5- Contribution analyses
The contribution analyses were conducted using the ReCiPe 1.07 (H) Midpoint
terrestrial acidification, and water depletion. The LCIA values for each flow are
presented in Appendix A5-1, and the relatively contributions (%) are presented in
165
A5-1 LCIA value of each flow
LCIA values using ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint methodology for each flow of the four treatments conducted in 2012, two
treatments in 2013, and two treatments simulated between 2004 and 2013 are documented in this section.
166
Table A5- 1 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete.
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 60.9 21 0.272 0 6.31 0.495 0
drip tape 0 22.8 16.2 4.93E-04 4.38E-06 0.028 0.0804 0.533
pipe landfill 8.51E-04 0.124 0.0392 9.22E-03 2.38E-04 1.54 4.04E-04 0.0536
pipe
incineration 5.20E-04 19 0.0485 2.67E-05 6.39E-08 5.47E-03 1.41E-03 0.275
pipe recycle 1.67E-04 0.121 0.0597 2.25E-04 1.96E-06 5.92E-03 6.28E-04 0.106
Seed seed 30.8 13.5 1.86 0.164 2.74E-03 3.43 0.0642 32.3
PE
membrane 0 7.5 5.58 4.24E-04 3.80E-06 0.0109 0.0332 0.159
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.0785 6.61 2.19 7.84E-04 2.46E-05 0.114 0.0461 0.488
Field
Planting Preparation 297 0 0 4.09 0.0372 0 0.0715 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
167
Table A5- 2 LCIA of 2012 30” SWRT for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. depletion
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq DB eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 394.4 172.0 63.2 5.94 5.44E-02 21.3 0.877 171.7
harvesting 0.205 5.78 1.91 0.0787 7.82E-04 3.79 0.0498 10.2
fertilizing 0.0406 0.947 0.317 1.21E-02 1.08E-04 0.578 7.11E-03 1.47
Machine
sowing 0.121 0.85 0.279 1.10E-02 1.58E-04 0.511 5.76E-03 2.17
tillage 0.249 5.06 1.66 0.0673 4.65E-04 2.93 0.036 7.2
4.80E-
gypsum 9.34E-03 0.214 0.0585 1.81E-05 2.64E-07 03 1.17E-03 0.235
roundup 0.0253 1.32 0.469 0.0171 6.71E-04 0.869 0.0142 7.8
1.87E-
AMS 2.77E-04 0.226 0.118 4.42E-05 3.49E-07 03 5.94E-04 0.0212
KCl 0.0924 2.09 0.742 0.0173 7.25E-04 1.03 6.94E-03 5.2
Chemical
P2O5 7.35E-03 2.24 0.925 1.80E-03 1.74E-05 0.0926 0.0132 0.702
urea 0.015 7.72 2.97 9.93E-04 7.27E-06 0.0711 0.0177 2.05
7.02E-
AN 2.05E-03 1.85 0.381 1.75E-04 1.46E-06 03 2.11E-03 0.337
1.04E-
K2O 2.68E-04 0.125 0.0551 4.27E-06 2.00E-08 03 2.92E-04 0.0199
168
Table A5- 2 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. depletion
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq DB eq kg SO2 eq m3
irrigation
water 0.0906 23.1 7.56 0.283 2.55E-03 2.88 0.0526 112
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 41.3 14.2 0.184 0 4.27 0.335 0
Irrigation drip tape 0 28.7 20.4 6.21E-04 5.52E-06 0.0352 0.101 0.671
pipe landfill 1.07E-03 0.156 0.0494 1.16E-02 3.00E-04 1.94 5.08E-04 0.0675
pipe 6.89E-
incineration 6.54E-04 23.9 0.061 3.36E-05 8.04E-08 03 1.77E-03 0.346
7.44E-
pipe recycle 2.10E-04 0.153 0.0751 2.83E-04 2.46E-06 03 7.90E-04 0.133
Seed seed 19.4 8.47 1.17 0.103 1.73E-03 2.16 0.0404 20.3
PE
membrane 0 9.44 7.02 5.34E-04 4.78E-06 0.0138 0.0417 0.2
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.0988 8.32 2.75 9.86E-04 3.10E-05 0.143 0.0581 0.614
Field
Planting Preparation 374 0 0 5.15 0.0468 0 0.09 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
169
Table A5- 3 LCIA of 2012 15” Ctrl for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete.
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 570.5 184.2 61.7 8.03 7.57E-02 27.9 0.886 194.3
harvesting 0.283 7.97 2.63 0.109 1.08E-03 5.22 0.0687 14.1
fertilizing 0.056 1.31 0.437 0.0167 1.48E-04 0.797 9.80E-03 2.03
Machine
sowing 0.167 1.17 0.384 0.0151 2.18E-04 0.705 7.94E-03 2.99
tillage 0.362 7.35 2.42 0.0977 6.75E-04 4.26 0.0523 10.4
gypsum 0.0129 0.295 0.0807 2.49E-05 3.64E-07 6.62E-03 1.61E-03 0.324
roundup 0.0349 1.82 0.647 0.0236 9.25E-04 1.20 0.0196 10.8
AMS 3.81E-04 0.311 0.163 6.09E-05 4.81E-07 2.57E-03 8.18E-04 0.0292
KCl 0.127 2.88 1.02 0.0239 0.001 1.42 9.56E-03 7.16
Chem.
P2O5 0.0101 3.08 1.27 2.48E-03 2.39E-05 0.128 0.0181 0.968
urea 0.0206 10.6 4.10 1.37E-03 1.00E-05 0.098 0.0244 2.82
AN 2.83E-03 2.54 0.526 2.41E-04 2.01E-06 9.68E-03 2.90E-03 0.465
K2O 3.70E-04 0.172 0.0759 5.89E-06 2.75E-08 1.43E-03 4.02E-04 0.0274
170
Table A5- 3 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete.
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
irrigation
water 0.068 17.4 5.68 0.213 1.92E-03 2.16 3.95E-02 84.5
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 31.0 10.7 0.139 0 3.21 0.252 0
Irrigate
drip tape 0 39.6 28.1 8.56E-04 7.61E-06 0.0485 0.139 0.924
pipe landfill 1.48E-03 0.215 0.068 0.016 4.13E-04 2.67 7.00E-04 0.093
pipe
incineration 9.02E-04 33.0 0.0841 4.63E-05 1.11E-07 0.0095 2.44E-03 0.476
pipe recycle 2.90E-04 0.210 0.104 3.90E-04 3.40E-06 0.0103 1.09E-03 0.184
Seed seed 53.4 23.3 3.22 0.284 4.76E-03 5.95 0.111 56.0
PE
membrane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SWRT
membrane
installation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Field
Planting Preparation 516 0 0 7.09 0.0645 0 0.124 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
171
Table A5- 4 LCIA of 2012 30” Ctrl for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete.
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq DB eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 531.2 143.1 50.1 7.53 7.06E-02 21.5 0.657 118.1
harvesting 0.276 7.78 2.56 0.106 1.05E-03 5.10 0.0671 13.8
fertilizing 0.0547 1.28 0.426 0.0163 1.45E-04 0.778 9.57E-03 1.98
Machine
sowing 0.163 1.14 0.375 0.0148 2.13E-04 0.688 7.75E-03 2.92
tillage 0.353 7.18 2.36 0.0954 6.59E-04 4.16 0.0511 10.2
gypsum 0.0126 0.288 0.0788 2.43E-05 3.55E-07 6.47E-03 0.00157 0.316
roundup 0.0341 1.78 0.632 0.0231 9.04E-04 1.17 0.0191 10.5
AMS 3.72E-04 0.304 0.159 5.95E-05 4.69E-07 2.51E-03 7.99E-04 0.0285
KCl 0.124 2.81 0.998 0.0233 9.76E-04 1.38 9.34E-03 6.99
Chem.
P2O5 9.89E-03 3.01 1.24 2.42E-03 2.34E-05 0.125 0.0177 0.945
urea 0.0202 10.4 4.00 1.34E-03 9.78E-06 0.0957 0.0239 2.76
AN 2.76E-03 2.48 0.513 2.35E-04 1.96E-06 9.45E-03 2.83E-03 0.454
K2O 3.61E-04 0.168 0.0741 5.75E-06 2.69E-08 1.40E-03 3.93E-04 0.0268
172
Table A5- 4 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete.
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq DB eq kg SO2 eq m3
irrigation
water 0.0306 7.83 2.56 0.0959 8.64E-04 0.975 0.0178 38.1
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 14.0 4.81 6.24E-02 0 1.44 0.113 0
Irrigate
drip tape 0 38.6 27.5 8.36E-04 7.43E-06 0.0473 1.36E-01 0.902
pipe landfill 0.00144 0.21 0.0664 0.0156 4.03E-04 2.61 6.84E-04 0.0908
pipe
incineration 8.81E-04 32.2 0.0821 4.52E-05 1.08E-07 9.27E-03 2.38E-03 0.465
pipe recycle 2.83E-04 0.205 0.101 3.81E-04 3.32E-06 0.01 1.06E-03 0.18
Seed seed 26.1 11.4 1.57 0.139 2.32E-03 2.90 0.0544 27.4
PE
membrane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SWRT
membrane
installation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Field
Plant Preparation 504 0 0 6.93 0.063 0 0.121 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
173
Table A5- 5 LCIA of 2013 Irrigated SWRT for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 367.1 142.6 50.9 3.25 3.10E-02 18.9 0.661 141.4
harvesting 0.179 5.06 1.69 0.0698 6.94E-04 3.35749 0.0442 9.06
fertilizing 0.0356 0.83 0.281 1.08E-02 9.55E-05 0.51238 6.30E-03 1.3
Machine
sowing 0.107 0.747 0.247 9.73E-03 1.40E-04 0.45331 5.11E-03 1.92
tillage 0.219 4.43 1.48 0.0597 4.13E-04 2.60029 0.0319 6.38
gypsum 8.28E-03 0.19 0.0519 1.60E-05 2.34E-07 4.26E-03 1.03E-03 0.208
roundup 0.0224 1.17 0.416 0.0152 5.95E-04 0.771 0.0126 6.92
AMS 2.45E-04 0.2 0.105 3.92E-05 3.09E-07 1.65E-03 5.26E-04 0.0188
KCl 0.0736 1.66 0.591 0.0138 5.78E-04 0.818 5.53E-03 4.14
Chem.
P2O5 3.69E-03 1.12 0.464 9.01E-04 8.71E-06 0.0465 0.0066 0.352
urea 0.00994 5.12 1.97 6.59E-04 4.82E-06 0.0472 0.0118 1.36
AN 3.35E-03 3.01 0.623 2.86E-04 2.38E-06 1.15E-02 3.44E-03 0.551
K2O 8.42E-04 0.391 0.173 1.34E-05 6.27E-08 3.26E-03 9.17E-04 0.0625
174
Table A5- 5 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change depletion ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
irrigation
water 0.0574 14.7 4.79 0.18 1.62E-03 1.83 0.0333 71.3
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 26.2 9.01 0.117 0 2.71 0.212 0
Irrigate
drip tape 0 25.4 18.1 5.50E-04 4.89E-06 0.0312 0.0897 0.594
pipe landfill 8.24E-04 0.12 0.0438 1.03E-02 2.66E-04 1.72 (cont’d)
4.50E-04 0.0598
pipe
incineration 5.80E-04 21.2 0.0541 2.98E-05 7.13E-08 6.11E-03 1.57E-03 0.306
pipe recycle 4.50E-04 0.327 0.0666 2.51E-04 2.18E-06 6.60E-03 7.01E-04 0.118
Seed seed 34.3 15 2.07 0.183 3.06E-03 3.83 0.0716 36
PE
membrane 0 8.37 6.22 4.73E-04 4.23E-06 0.0122 0.037 0.177
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.0876 7.38 2.44 8.74E-04 2.75E-05 0.127 0.0515 0.544
Field
Plant Preparation 332 0 0 2.58 0.0235 0 0.0337 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
175
Table A5- 6 LCIA of 2013 Nonirrigated SWRT for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete. ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 1238.3 121.1 32.0 9.98 9.84E-02 42.5 0.787 230.3
harvesting 0.607 17.1 5.72 0.236 2.35E-03 11.40 0.15 30.7
fertilizing 0.121 2.81 0.95 0.0364 3.23E-04 1.73 0.0213 4.41
Machine
sowing 0.363 2.53 0.836 0.0329 4.74E-04 1.53 0.0173 6.50
tillage 0.78 15.8 5.26 0.213 1.47E-03 9.26 0.114 22.7
gypsum 0.028 0.641 0.176 5.42E-05 7.91E-07 0.0144 0.0035 0.705
roundup 0.0759 3.97 1.41 0.0514 2.01E-03 2.61 0.0427 23.4
AMS 8.30E-04 0.677 0.355 1.33E-04 1.05E-06 0.0056 0.00178 0.0636
KCl 0.249 5.63 2.00 0.0467 1.96E-03 2.77 0.0187 14.0
Chem.
P2O5 0.0125 3.80 1.57 3.05E-03 2.95E-05 0.157 0.0223 1.19
urea 0.0336 17.3 6.68 2.23E-03 1.63E-05 0.160 0.0398 4.6
AN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K2O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
176
Table A5- 6 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete. ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
irrigation
water 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Irrigate
drip tape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
pipe landfill 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
pipe
incineration 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
pipe recycle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Seed seed 116 50.8 7.01 0.618 0.0104 12.90 0.242 122.0
PE
membrane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SWRT
membrane
installation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Field
Plant Preparation 1120 0 0 8.74 0.0794 0 0.114 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
177
Table A5- 7 LCIA of simulated 2004 Ctrl for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 456.6 53.4 15.3 4.09 3.94E-02 15.0 0.337 81.9
harvesting 0.223 6.31 2.10 0.0869 8.64E-04 4.18 0.055 11.3
fertilizing 0.0444 1.03 0.35 0.0134 1.19E-04 0.638 7.85E-03 1.62
Machine
sowing 0.134 0.93 0.308 0.0121 1.75E-04 0.565 6.36E-03 2.39
tillage 0.287 5.81 1.94 0.0783 5.41E-04 3.41 0.0419 8.37
gypsum 0.0103 0.236 0.0646 1.99E-05 2.91E-07 5.31E-03 0.00129 0.259
roundup 0.0279 1.46 0.518 0.0189 7.41E-04 0.960 0.0157 8.61
AMS 3.06E-04 0.249 0.131 4.88E-05 3.85E-07 2.06E-03 6.56E-04 0.0234
Chem.
K2O 7.41E-04 0.344 0.152 1.18E-05 5.51E-08 2.87E-03 8.06E-04 0.0549
P2O5 5.20E-03 1.58 0.654 1.27E-03 1.23E-05 0.0655 9.31E-03 0.497
urea 0.0206 10.6 4.10 1.37E-03 1.00E-05 0.098 0.0244 2.82
irrigation
water 7.16E-04 0.183 0.0597 2.24E-03 2.02E-05 0.0228 4.15E-04 0.889
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 0.326 0.112 1.46E-03 0 0.0337 2.65E-03 0
Irrigate drip tape 0 3.07 2.19 6.64E-05 5.91E-07 3.77E-03 0.0108 0.0718
7.22E-
pipe landfill 9.95E-05 0.0145 5.28E-03 1.24E-03 3.21E-05 0.208 5.44E-05 03
pipe
incineration 7.00E-05 2.56 6.53E-03 3.60E-06 8.61E-09 7.37E-04 1.90E-04 0.037
pipe recycle 5.44E-05 0.0394 8.04E-03 3.03E-05 2.64E-07 7.97E-04 8.46E-05 0.0143
178
Table A5- 7 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
Seed seed 42.8 18.7 2.58 0.227 3.81E-03 4.77 0.0892 44.9
PE
membrane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SWRT
membrane
installation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Field
Plant Preparation 413 0 0 3.64 0.0331 0 0.070 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
179
Table A5- 7 LCIA of simulated 2004 SWRT for contribution analysis
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
total 457.5 246.6 122.2 4.06 3.95E-02 15.0 1.418 86.7
harvesting 0.223 6.38 2.10 0.0869 8.64E-04 4.18 0.055 11.3
fertilizing 0.0444 1.05 0.35 0.0134 1.19E-04 0.638 7.85E-03 1.62
Machine
sowing 0.134 0.939 0.308 0.0121 1.75E-04 0.565 6.36E-03 2.39
tillage 0.144 2.94 0.968 0.0391 2.70E-04 1.70 0.0209 4.18
gypsum 0.0103 0.236 0.0646 1.99E-05 2.91E-07 5.31E-03 0.00129 0.259
roundup 0.0279 1.46 0.518 0.0189 7.41E-04 0.960 0.0157 8.61
AMS 3.06E-04 0.249 0.131 4.88E-05 3.85E-07 2.06E-03 6.56E-04 0.0234
Chemical
K2O 7.41E-04 0.344 0.152 1.18E-05 5.51E-08 2.87E-03 8.06E-04 0.0549
P2O5 5.20E-03 1.58 0.654 1.27E-03 1.23E-05 0.0655 9.31E-03 0.497
urea 0.0206 10.6 4.10 1.37E-03 1.00E-05 0.098 0.0244 2.82
irrigation
water 7.16E-04 0.183 0.0597 2.24E-03 2.02E-05 0.0228 4.15E-04 0.889
drip
irrigation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
electricity 0 0.326 0.112 1.46E-03 0 0.0337 2.65E-03 0
Irrigate drip tape 0 3.07 2.19 6.64E-05 5.91E-07 3.77E-03 0.0108 0.0718
7.22E-
pipe landfill 9.95E-05 0.0167 5.28E-03 1.24E-03 3.21E-05 0.208 5.44E-05 03
pipe
incineration 7.00E-05 2.56 6.53E-03 3.60E-06 8.61E-09 7.37E-04 1.90E-04 0.037
pipe recycle 5.44E-05 0.0163 8.04E-03 3.03E-05 2.64E-07 7.97E-04 8.46E-05 0.0143
180
Table A5- 8 (cont’d)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
kg CO2- kg 1,4-DB kg 1,4-DB
Unit m2*year Equiv. kg oil eq eq kg P eq eq kg SO2 eq m3
Seed seed 42.8 18.7 2.58 0.227 3.81E-03 4.77 0.0892 44.9
PE
membrane 0 104 77.5 5.89E-03 5.27E-05 0.152 0.461 2.21
SWRT
membrane
installation 1.09 91.9 30.4 0.0109 3.42E-04 1.58 0.641 6.78
Field
Plant Preparation 413 0 0 3.64 0.0331 0 0.070 0
Harvest 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
181
B-2 Relative contribution of each flow
182
Table A5- 9 (cont'd)
Agri.
Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator land
change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
occ.
% % % % % % % %
irrigation
water 0.04 18.26 16.96 8.18 8.14 18.08 7.81 72.28
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 32.51 31.81 5.31 0.00 26.78 49.82 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 12.17 24.54 0.01 0.01 0.12 8.09 0.23
pipe landfill 0.00 0.07 0.06 0.18 0.51 6.54 0.04 0.02
pipe
incineration 0.00 10.14 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.14 0.12
pipe recycle 0.00 0.06 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.05
Seed seed 9.37 7.21 2.82 3.20 5.92 14.56 6.46 14.06
PE
membrane 0.00 4.00 8.45 0.01 0.01 0.05 3.34 0.07
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.02 3.53 3.32 0.02 0.05 0.48 4.64 0.21
Field
Plant Preparation 90.38 0.00 0.00 79.88 80.32 0.00 7.20 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
183
Table A5- 10 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 30” SWRT
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 3.36 3.02 1.32 1.44 17.76 5.68 5.94
fertilizing 0.01 0.55 0.50 0.20 0.20 2.71 0.81 0.86
Machine
sowing 0.03 0.49 0.44 0.19 0.29 2.39 0.66 1.26
tillage 0.06 2.94 2.63 1.13 0.86 13.73 4.11 4.19
gypsum 0.00 0.12 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.13 0.14
roundup 0.01 0.77 0.74 0.29 1.23 4.07 1.62 4.54
AMS 0.00 0.13 0.19 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.07 0.01
KCl 0.02 1.22 1.17 0.29 1.33 4.83 0.79 3.03
Chem.
P2O5 0.00 1.30 1.46 0.03 0.03 0.43 1.51 0.41
urea 0.00 4.49 4.70 0.02 0.01 0.33 2.02 1.19
AN 0.00 1.08 0.60 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.24 0.20
K2O 0.00 0.07 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.01
184
Table A5-10 (cont'd)
Agri. Water
Climate Fossil Freshwate Freshwate Human Terrestria
Indicator land deplet
change deplete r ecotoxi. r eutro. toxicity l acid.
occ. e
% % % % % % % %
irrigation
water 0.02 13.43 11.97 4.76 4.69 13.49 6.00 65.22
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (cont’d)
0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 24.02 22.48 3.10 0.00 20.01 38.21 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 16.69 32.29 0.01 0.01 0.16 11.52 0.39
pipe landfill 0.00 0.09 0.08 0.20 0.55 9.09 0.06 0.04
pipe
incineration 0.00 13.90 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.20 0.20
pipe recycle 0.00 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.09 0.08
Seed seed 4.92 4.93 1.85 1.73 3.18 10.12 4.61 11.82
PE
membrane 0.00 5.49 11.11 0.01 0.01 0.06 4.76 0.12
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.03 4.84 4.35 0.02 0.06 0.67 6.63 0.36
Field
Plant Preparation 94.84 0.00 0.00 86.69 86.09 0.00 10.27 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
185
Table A5- 11 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 15” Ctrl
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 4.33 4.26 1.36 1.43 18.71 7.76 7.26
fertilizing 0.01 0.71 0.71 0.21 0.20 2.86 1.11 1.04
Machine
sowing 0.03 0.64 0.62 0.19 0.29 2.53 0.90 1.54
tillage 0.06 3.99 3.92 1.22 0.89 15.27 5.90 5.35
gypsum 0.00 0.16 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.18 0.17
roundup 0.01 0.99 1.05 0.29 1.22 4.30 2.21 5.56
AMS 0.00 0.17 0.26 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.09 0.02
KCl 0.02 1.56 1.65 0.30 1.32 5.09 1.08 3.69
Chem.
P2O5 0.00 1.67 2.06 0.03 0.03 0.46 2.04 0.50
urea 0.00 5.75 6.64 0.02 0.01 0.35 2.75 1.45
AN 0.00 1.38 0.85 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.33 0.24
K2O 0.00 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.05 0.01
irrigation
water 0.01 9.45 9.20 2.65 2.54 7.74 4.46 43.49
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 16.83 17.34 1.73 0.00 11.50 28.45 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 21.50 45.54 0.01 0.01 0.17 15.69 0.48
pipe landfill 0.00 0.12 0.11 0.20 0.55 9.57 0.08 0.05
pipe
incineration 0.00 17.91 0.14 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.28 0.24
pipe recycle 0.00 0.11 0.17 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.12 0.09
Seed seed 9.36 12.65 5.22 3.54 6.29 21.32 12.53 28.82
186
Table A5-11 (cont'd)
Agri. Water
Climate Fossil Freshwate Freshwate Human Terrestria
Indicator land deplet
change deplete r ecotoxi. r eutro. toxicity l acid.
occ. e
% % % % % % % %
PE
membrane 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Field
Plant Preparation 90.44 0.00 0.00 88.26 85.22 0.00 14.00 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
187
Table A5- 12 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2012 30” Ctrl
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 5.44 5.11 1.41 1.49 23.71 10.21 11.69
fertilizing 0.01 0.89 0.85 0.22 0.21 3.62 1.46 1.68
Machine
sowing 0.03 0.80 0.75 0.20 0.30 3.20 1.18 2.47
tillage 0.07 5.02 4.71 1.27 0.93 19.34 7.77 8.64
gypsum 0.00 0.20 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.24 0.27
roundup 0.01 1.24 1.26 0.31 1.28 5.44 2.91 8.89
AMS 0.00 0.21 0.32 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.12 0.02
KCl 0.02 1.96 1.99 0.31 1.38 6.42 1.42 5.92
Chem.
P2O5 0.00 2.10 2.47 0.03 0.03 0.58 2.69 0.80
urea 0.00 7.27 7.98 0.02 0.01 0.44 3.64 2.34
AN 0.00 1.73 1.02 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.43 0.38
K2O 0.00 0.12 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.06 0.02
irrigation
water 0.01 5.47 5.11 1.27 1.22 4.53 2.71 32.27
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 9.79 9.60 0.83 0.00 6.70 17.19 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 26.98 54.88 0.01 0.01 0.22 20.69 0.76
pipe landfill 0.00 0.15 0.13 0.21 0.57 12.13 0.10 0.08
pipe
incineration 0.00 22.51 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.36 0.39
pipe recycle 0.00 0.14 0.20 0.01 0.00 0.05 0.16 0.15
188
Table A5-12 (cont'd)
Agri. Water
Climate Fossil Freshwate Freshwate Human Terrestria
Indicator land deplet
change deplete r ecotoxi. r eutro. toxicity l acid.
occ. e
% % % % % % % %
Seed seed 4.91 7.97 3.13 1.85 3.29 13.48 8.27 23.21
PE
membrane 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Field
Plant Preparation 94.88 0.00 0.00 92.07 89.26 0.00 18.40 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
189
Table A5- 13 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2013 Irrigated SWRT
Agri. land Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 3.55 3.32 2.15 2.24 17.76 6.68 6.41
fertilizing 0.01 0.58 0.55 0.33 0.31 2.71 0.95 0.92
Machine
sowing 0.03 0.52 0.49 0.30 0.45 2.40 0.77 1.36
tillage 0.06 3.11 2.91 1.83 1.33 13.76 4.82 4.51
gypsum 0.00 0.13 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.16 0.15
roundup 0.01 0.82 0.82 0.47 1.92 4.08 1.90 4.89
AMS 0.00 0.14 0.21 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.08 0.01
KCl 0.02 1.16 1.16 0.42 1.86 4.33 0.84 2.93
Chem.
P2O5 0.00 0.79 0.91 0.03 0.03 0.25 1.00 0.25
urea 0.00 3.59 3.87 0.02 0.02 0.25 1.78 0.96
AN 0.00 2.11 1.22 0.01 0.01 0.06 0.52 0.39
K2O 0.00 0.27 0.34 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.14 0.04
irrigation
water 0.02 10.31 9.41 5.53 5.22 9.68 5.03 50.43
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 18.37 17.71 3.60 0.00 14.34 32.05 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 17.81 35.57 0.02 0.02 0.17 13.56 0.42
pipe landfill 0.00 0.08 0.09 0.32 0.86 9.10 0.07 0.04
pipe
incineration 0.00 14.86 0.11 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.24 0.22
pipe recycle 0.00 0.23 0.13 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.11 0.08
190
Table A5-13 (cont'd)
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
Seed seed 9.34 10.52 4.07 5.62 9.87 20.26 10.82 25.46
PE
membrane 0.00 5.87 12.22 0.01 0.01 0.06 5.59 0.13
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.02 5.17 4.79 0.03 0.09 0.67 7.79 0.38
Field
Plant Preparation 90.44 0.00 0.00 79.30 75.77 0.00 5.09 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
191
Table A5- 14 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2013 Nonirrigated SWRT
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 14.13 17.89 2.36 2.39 26.80 19.05 13.33
fertilizing 0.01 2.32 2.97 0.36 0.33 4.07 2.71 1.92
Machine
sowing 0.03 2.09 2.62 0.33 0.48 3.60 2.20 2.82
tillage 0.06 13.05 16.45 2.13 1.49 21.77 14.48 9.86
gypsum 0.00 0.53 0.55 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.44 0.31
roundup 0.01 3.28 4.41 0.52 2.04 6.14 5.42 10.16
AMS 0.00 0.56 1.11 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.23 0.03
KCl 0.02 4.65 6.26 0.47 1.99 6.51 2.37 6.08
Chem.
P2O5 0.00 3.14 4.91 0.03 0.03 0.37 2.83 0.52
urea 0.00 14.29 20.90 0.02 0.02 0.38 5.05 2.00
AN 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
K2O 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
irrigation
water 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
pipe landfill 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
pipe
incineration 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
pipe recycle 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
192
Table A5-14 (cont'd)
Agri.
Climate Fossil Freshwate Freshwate Human Terrestria Water
Indicator land
change deplete r ecotoxi. r eutro. toxicity l acid. deplete
occ.
% % % % % % % %
Seed seed 9.37 41.96 21.93 6.19 10.57 30.33 30.73 52.98
PE
membrane 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Field
Plant Preparation 90.45 0.00 0.00 87.58 80.66 0.00 14.48 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
193
Table A5- 8 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2004 simulated Ctrl
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 11.81 13.74 2.13 2.19 27.93 16.34 13.80
fertilizing 0.01 1.93 2.29 0.33 0.30 4.26 2.33 1.98
Machine
sowing 0.03 1.74 2.02 0.30 0.44 3.78 1.89 2.92
tillage 0.06 10.87 12.70 1.92 1.37 22.78 12.45 10.22
gypsum 0.00 0.44 0.42 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.38 0.32
roundup 0.01 2.73 3.39 0.46 1.88 6.41 4.66 10.52
AMS 0.00 0.47 0.86 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.19 0.03
Chem.
KCl 0.00 0.64 0.99 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.24 0.07
P2O5 0.00 2.96 4.28 0.03 0.03 0.44 2.77 0.61
urea 0.00 19.83 26.83 0.03 0.03 0.65 7.25 3.44
irrigation
water 0.00 0.34 0.39 0.05 0.05 0.15 0.12 1.09
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 0.61 0.73 0.04 0.00 0.23 0.79 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 5.74 14.33 0.00 0.00 0.03 3.21 0.09
pipe landfill 0.00 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.08 1.39 0.02 0.01
pipe
incineration 0.00 4.79 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.05
pipe recycle 0.00 0.07 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.02
Seed seed 9.37 34.99 16.89 5.57 9.66 31.87 26.50 54.85
194
Table A5-15 (cont'd)
Agri.
Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator land
change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
occ.
% % % % % % % %
PE
membrane 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Field
Plant Preparation 90.46 0.00 0.00 89.11 83.95 0.00 20.79 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
195
Table A5- 9 Flow relative contributions (%) of 2004 simulated SWRT
Agri. Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator
land occ. change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
% % % % % % % %
harvest 0.05 2.59 1.72 2.14 2.18 27.89 3.88 13.04
fertilizing 0.01 0.43 0.29 0.33 0.30 4.26 0.55 1.87
Machine
sowing 0.03 0.38 0.25 0.30 0.44 3.77 0.45 2.76
tillage 0.03 1.19 0.79 0.96 0.68 11.34 1.47 4.82
gypsum 0.00 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.09 0.30
roundup 0.01 0.59 0.42 0.47 1.87 6.40 1.11 9.93
AMS 0.00 0.10 0.11 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.05 0.03
Chem.
KCl 0.00 0.14 0.12 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.06 0.06
P2O5 0.00 0.64 0.54 0.03 0.03 0.44 0.66 0.57
urea 0.00 4.30 3.35 0.03 0.03 0.65 1.72 3.25
irrigation
water 0.00 0.07 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.15 0.03 1.03
drip
irrigation 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
electricity 0.00 0.13 0.09 0.04 0.00 0.22 0.19 0.00
Irrigate
drip tape 0.00 1.25 1.79 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.76 0.08
pipe landfill 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.03 0.08 1.39 0.00 0.01
pipe
incineration 0.00 1.04 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.04
pipe recycle 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.02
196
Table A5-16 (cont'd)
Agri.
Climate Fossil Freshwater Freshwater Human Terrestrial Water
Indicator land
change deplete ecotoxi. eutro. toxicity acid. deplete
occ.
% % % % % % % %
Seed seed 9.36 7.58 2.11 5.59 9.63 31.82 6.29 51.81
PE
membrane 0.00 42.18 63.42 0.15 0.13 1.01 32.52 2.55
SWRT
membrane
installation 0.24 37.27 24.88 0.27 0.86 10.54 45.22 7.82
Field
Plant Preparation 90.27 0.00 0.00 89.61 83.69 0.00 4.94 0.00
Harvest 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
197
Appendix B5 Allocation scenarios
Table B5- 1-a Allocation scenarios on 15” SWRT and 30” SWRT
198
Table B5- 1-b Allocation scenarios on 15” Ctrl and 30” Ctrl
199
Table B5- 1-c Allocation scenarios on Irrigated SWRT and Nonirrigated Ctrl
200
Appendix C5 Pedigree matrix
The pedigree matrix was used to assess the standard deviation of the data
quality. The value of the standard deviation was calculated based on the following
where,
201
Table C5- 1 Pedigree matrix used to assess the data quality
Indicator 1 2 3 4 5
Verified data partly
Non-verified
based on Qualified Estimate
Verified data based data partly Non-qualified
Reliability assumptions or non- (e.g. by industrial
on measurement based on estimate
verified data based expert)
assumptions
on measure
U1 1.00 1.05 1.10 1.20 1.50
Representative data Representativene
Representative data Representative
but from a smaller ss unknown or
from a sufficient Representative data data from
number of sites and incomplete data
sample of sites over from a smaller adequate
Completeness shorter periods or from a smaller
an adequate period number of sites but number of sites
incomplete data from number of sites
to even out normal for adequate periods but from shorter
an adequate number and/or from
fluctuations periods
of sites and periods shorter periods
U2 1.00 1.02 1.05 1.10 1.20
Age of data
< 10 years
Temporal < 3 years difference < 6 years difference < 15 years difference unknown or > 15
difference to
correlation to year of study to year of study to year of study years difference
year of study
to year of study
U3 1.00 1.03 1.10 1.20 1.50
Data from
Average data from Data from area Data from area with unknown area or
Geographical Data from area larger area in which with similar slightly similar area with very
correlation under study the area under study production production different
is included conditions conditions production
conditions
202
Table C5- 1 (cont’d)
Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator
U4 1.00 1.01 1.02 NA 1.10
Data from
Data from Data on related
Data for processes processes and Data from related
enterprises, processes or
Technology and materials under materials under processes or
processes, and materials but
correlation study but from study but from materials but same
materials under different
different enterprises different technology
study technology
technology
U5 1.00 NA 1.20 1.50 2.00
> 100, continuous
measurement,
Sample size > 20 > 10 >=3 unknown
balance of
purchased products
203
Table C5- 2 Pedigree matrix used for uncertainty analysis
Group Process In/Out Flow U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 SD
harvesting Diesel 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.27
Inputs harvester production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
shed 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
tillage machine
Fertilizing production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
Inputs Diesel 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.27
shed 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
tractor production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
machinery
Machinery
sowing production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
Inputs Diesel 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.27
shed 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
tractor production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
machinery
tillage production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
Inputs Diesel 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.27
shed 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
tractor production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
204
Table C5- 2 (cont’d)
Group Process In/Out Flow U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 SD
Gypsum stone 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.20 1.76
Glyphosate 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
AMS 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.20 1.69
KCl 1.00 1.05 1.50 1.01 1.00 2.60
Chemical
P2O5 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.10
Urea 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.10
AN 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.10
K2O 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
Water 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
drip
irrigation Inputs Electricity, at grid 1.05 1.05 1.20 1.02 1.00 2.74
Water 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Outputs irrigating 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Electricity, at
Irrigation
grid 1.05 1.05 1.20 1.00 1.00 2.38
pipe (PE-HD) 1.00 1.00 1.20 1.02 1.20 2.70
Pipe landfill 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.10
pipe
incineration 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
pipe recycling 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.10
Seed corn seed 1.05 1.10 1.20 1.10 1.00 3.54
205
Table C5- 2 (cont’d)
Group Process In/Out Flow U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 SD
SWRT film (PE-LD) 1.00 1.00 1.10 1.02 1.00 1.57
SWRT machine
Installation Inputs production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.50 2.96
SWRT
Diesel 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.27
shed 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.57
tractor production 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.50 2.96
AMS 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.20 2.88
fertilizing 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
corn seed 1.05 1.02 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.95
sowing 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
tillage 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
SWRT installation 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.20 1.76
Glyphosate 1.05 1.02 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.95
Planting Field Gypsum 1.10 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.52
Inputs
(simulated) preparation Pipe 1.05 1.02 1.00 1.10 1.20 3.00
SWRT film 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.31
K2O 1.20 1.00 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.09
P2O5 1.20 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.69
Urea 1.20 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.69
irrigating 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.50
CO2 1.05 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.38
crop land occ. 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
206
Table C5- 2 (cont’d)
Group Process In/Out Flow U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 SD
corn 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Field nitrate 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.36
Outputs
preparation NOx 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.36
Phosphorus 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.20 2.09
Planting Inputs harvesting 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.15
(simulated) corn 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Outputs Corn grains 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Harvest
pipe incineration 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.02 1.00 2.40
pipe landfill 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.02 1.00 2.40
pipe recycling good 1.10 1.20 1.20 1.10 1.00 4.36
AMS 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
fertilizing 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.95
corn seed 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.31
sowing 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.95
tillage 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.95
Field
Planting SWRT installation 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.20 3.00
Preparation Inputs
(experiment) Glyphosate 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.31
2012-2013
Gypsum 1.10 1.20 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.84
Pipe 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.20 3.54
SWRT film 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.31
K2O 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.10 1.00 2.31
P2O5 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
207
Table C5- 2 (cont’d)
Group Process In/Out Flow U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 SD
Urea 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
KCl 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
AN 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
Inputs
irrigating 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.88
Field
CO2 1.05 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.00 1.38
Preparation
2012-2013 crop land occ. 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.70
corn 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Planting nitrate 1.10 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.85
Outputs
(experiment) NOx 1.10 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.85
Phosphorus 1.10 1.10 1.00 1.00 1.20 2.84
harvesting 1.05 1.10 1.00 1.02 1.00 1.95
Inputs
corn 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Harvest Corn grains 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
2012 & 2013 pipe incineration 1.10 1.20 1.20 1.02 1.50 6.96
Outputs
pipe landfill 1.10 1.20 1.20 1.02 1.50 6.96
pipe recycling good 1.10 1.20 1.50 1.10 1.50 10.15
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Table C5- 3 Monte Carlo simulation on SWRT machine diesel consumption rate
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Table C5- 4 Monte Carlo simulation on drip tape production
2012 15'' SWRT 2012 30'' SWRT 2012 15" Control 2012 30" Control Irrigated SWRT
mean SD mean SD mean SD mean SD mean SD
Agri. land occ. 329 4.64E-05 395 5.73E-05 571 7.99E-05 531 7.54E-05 367 4.84E-12
Climate change 187 1.18E+00 172 1.46E+00 184 2.02E+00 143 1.92E+00 143 2.06E-12
Fossil depletion 66 4.57E-01 63.2 5.65E-01 61.7 7.90E-01 50.1 7.41E-01 50.9 9.98E-14
Freshwater
ecotoxi. 5.12 2.78E-04 5.94 3.44E-04 8.04 4.79E-04 7.52 4.52E-04 3.25 4.26E-14
Freshwater
eutro. 0.0463 6.81E-06 0.0543 8.42E-06 0.0757 1.17E-05 0.0706 1.11E-05 0.031 3.06E-16
Human toxicity 23.6 4.41E-02 21.3 5.45E-02 27.9 7.59E-02 21.5 7.16E-02 18.9 1.60E-13
Terrestrial
acid. 0.993 2.31E-03 0.877 2.86E-03 0.886 3.98E-03 0.658 3.76E-03 0.662 9.53E-15
Water
depletion 230 2.69E-02 172 3.34E-02 194 4.64E-02 118 4.39E-02 141 2.83E-13
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Table C5- 5 Monte Carlo simulation on seed
15'' SWRT 30'' SWRT 15" Control 30" Control Irrigated SWRT Nonirrigated Ctrl
mean SD mean SD mean SD mean SD mean SD mean SD
A 329 1.082 395 0.703 570 1.938 531 0.881 367 1.215 1240 3.41E-12
B 187 0.473 172 0.308 184 0.848 143 0.386 143 0.533 121 1.63E-12
C 66 0.065 63.2 0.042 61.7 0.117 50.1 0.054 50.9 0.073 31.9 1.67E-13
D 5.12 0.006 5.94 0.004 8.04 0.010 7.52 0.005 3.25 0.006 9.96 1.12E-13
9.7E- 6.2E- 1.7E- 7.9E- 1.1E-
E 0.0463 05 0.0543 05 0.0757 04 0.0706 05 0.031 04 0.0982 1.01E-15
F 23.5 0.121 21.3 0.078 27.9 0.217 21.5 0.098 18.9 0.136 42.5 6.12E-13
G 0.993 0.002 0.877 0.001 0.886 0.004 0.658 0.002 0.662 0.003 0.786 4.44E-15
H 230 1.139 172 0.738 194 2.037 118 0.929 141 1.273 230 4.83E-12
A- Agricultural land occupation; B- Climate change; C-Fossil depletion; D- Freshwater ecotoxicity; E- Freshwater
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REFERENCES
212
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Stover in the United States. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
2009. 14(2): p. 160-174.
6. PE-GaBi, Corn, whole plant, at field, U.S.L. Database, Editor. 2009, PE-Gabi.
11. Luo, L., et al., Allocation issues in LCA methodology: a case study of corn stover-
based fuel ethanol. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2009.
14(6): p. 529-539.
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13. Sheehan, J., et al., Energy and Environmental Aspects of Using Corn Stover for
Fuel Ethanol. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2003. 7(3-4): p. 117-146.
14. Kim, S. and B.E. Dale, Life cycle Assessment of Various Cropping Systems
Utilized for Producing Biofuels: Bioethanol and Biodiesel. Biomass and
Bioenergy, 2005. 29(6): p. 426-439.
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Bioproducts and Biorefining, 2009. 3(2): p. 195-218.
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Petroleum Gasoline. Center for Transportation Research. Energy Systems
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Normalization and weighting
LCA is a useful tool to integrate the environmental impacts for product development
and policy making. In order to conduct a comprehensive life cycle study, scientific methods
of analyzed impact topics. Parallel to this, there is a need for simple, easy accessible
methods to interpret the LCA results for non-LCA practitioners, such as policy makers and
product designers. This audience is interested in the relative importance among studied
impact topics to reduce the product impact effectively. Normalization and weighting are
Normalization is an optional step according to ISO 14044 [1]. It helps to interpret the
step of fully aggregated results that needs an additional weighting step across indicators
[2].
Normalization is mostly used to interpret how the results of a LCA impact an average
citizen, a country, and/or globally, etc. When displaying the normalized LCIA results of
different impact categories next to each other, the relatively contributions of each impact
acidification, fossil depletion, etc.) or endpoint (such as human health, natural resource,
directly across categories. To judge the relative importance among impact results,
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additional weighting step is needed. Weighting makes the LCA result more deliverable,
6.1 Normalization
product and/or system. It is also the first step towards a fully aggregated result.
Normalized LCIA impacts will indicate the relatively contribution of the impact category of
the studied system in the total impact category per average citizen, per country, per GDP,
etc. It is important to note that normalized LCIA values across different impact cannot be
compared to interpret the absolute relevance (e.g., judge one impact category is more
concerning than the other based on the result). Because the normalized LCIA results
describe different impacts with different units, their value cannot be summed up as well.
where:
this study, Normref equals to the total impact of all substances of the specific
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Equation 6-1 implies that the choice of normalization reference can greater affect/shift
the normalized LCIA results. Commonly used normalization references are EDIP97 and
EI99, which are originally designed for Europe. With LCA studies and applications
becoming globally, there is a need to establish the normalization and weighting references
for different Word regions. Unfortunately, this will take a long time and lots of effort to
In this paper, ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint- world normalization factors were used, which
has two sets of parameters - Europe and World. At this point, we have to admit that
applying the World normalization reference to the U.S. studied results will introduce
classified into two groups: global impacts and regional/ local impacts. In terms of global
impacts, such as global warming and ozone depletion, the uncertainties to the normalized
LCIAs in this study are relatively lower than regional and local impacts such as acidification,
Table 6.1 lists the World’s normalization references of ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint. It is an
update from the 1994 version, which reflects the world’s population of 6,122,770,220 in
2000 [3].
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Table 6.3 indicates that freshwater ecotoxicity contributes relatively more than
other impact categories. It has been discussed in chapter 5.2 LCIA results that more
6.2 Weighting
In the weighting step, a specific weighting factor is used to multiply with an impact
category. By doing that, weighted LCIAs will be able to sum up or compare across
different impact categories. Note that under ISO 14044 [1] weighting shall not be
public.
Where: Norm IPIC is the normalized impact potential for a studied category,
category.
The weighting reference factors for ReCiPe 1.07 (H) midpoint impact assessment
has yet not been published [5]. Therefore, weighting didn’t not being performed in
this study.
219
REFERENCES
220
REFERENCES
5. ReCiPe. Quick introduction into ReCiPe LCIA Methodology. 2008 [cited 2014;
Available from: http://www.lcia-recipe.net/project-definition.
221
Conclusions and future work
7.1 Conclusions
were evaluated considering 6 different treatments (15” SWRT, 30” SWRT, 15” Ctrl,
30” Ctrl, Irrigated SWRT, and Nonirrigated Ctrl) planted on Sandhill farm, East
Lansing, MI, US. To compensate for the limitations of the experimental data, a 10-
year continuous corn production on Sandhill farm dataset was simulated using the
conducted to estimate the time to pay off the additional environmental burdens for
using SWRT.
The LCIs were mainly assessed by eight impact indicators from the ReCiPe 1.07
(H) midpoint assessment methodology. Mass allocation was the default method to
Benchmark comparisons:
Several studies concerning the environmental performance of corn stover and corn
grain production have been published, and some of these results were used to
compare with the results of this study. Results from this study show that most
impact categories except climate change and air acidification were in good
agreement with previous results. The published results have as great as 126%
difference among them on air acidification impact. The result of this study is lower
than benchmark about 35 to 622% depending on the study used for comparison.
The result of this study is about 18% lower than the benchmark study on climate
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change. The relatively lower impacts of this study might be owing to less gas
Hotspots identification:
The contribution of each group was evaluated to identify the environmental impact
hotspots. Among the groups, irrigation contributed the greatest impact. The
machinery, chemical, and seed groups were also intensive groups on most impacts.
and freshwater eutrophication impacts. This implies that these two impact
Agricultural land is regarded as a limited resource. High land use efficiency (high
yield) can effectively reduce the land occupation. The LCIA result of agricultural land
occupation illustrates that the planting group largely affect this impact category.
From the LCIA results, irrigation activity (water and electricity consumption for
pumping water) takes up 1/3 to 1/2 of the total indicators. Avoiding over irrigation
results.
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indicating a significant difference in fertilizer emissions between SWRT and Control
Human toxicity:
The LCIA results on the human toxicity impact category illustrates that machinery
was the greatest contributing group. Diesel consumption generated 70% of the
machinery burden.
Terrestrial acidification:
The LCIA result for terrestrial acidification suggests that electricity used for
irrigation, machinery, irrigation water, pipe production, SWRT and seed affected
this impact category. A further analysis explained that fuel burning was the
Bias in results due to the choices of allocation methods were reported in previous
published LCA studies. So, the allocation method scenario analysis showed that the
allocation method- allocated by mass, might introduce some biased results in the
absolute values, but not in the relative ranking of the EFP of the treatments. Since
factors for the same items, similar to the allocation method, the impact assessment
A yield increase scenario analysis due to the presence of SWRT was conducted on
the simulated Ctrl dataset to estimate the time to pay off the additional burden from
using SWRT. The scenario analysis indicates that if SWRT can increase the yield by
100%, the additional environmental burden incurred for installing SWRT in GHG
and fossil fuel depletion can be paid off in 5 and 9 years, respectively. Other
indicators were lower. Several approaches could decrease the SWRT environmental
An uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulations conducted on land use (LU)
indicated that yield was a highly sensitive parameter in this study. High yield would
effectively dilute the EFP. Conclusions from LCIA comparisons between treatments
showing the yield uncertainty effect on the conclusion is the climate change impact
result: the LCIA mean values are different among treatments, but they are
considered statistically the same for 2012 treatments and 2013 treatments when
accounting for yield uncertainty. Similar cases are human toxicity and terrestrial
acidification.
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7.2 Future work
situations. There were missing data/ data gaps that should be filled to complete a
There are always schedules and cost issues in expecting enough repeating years for
However, successful modeling of corn production using SWRT was not possible.
breakthrough to estimate the EFP of SWRT in sandy soil and other type of soils.
Creating unit process for SWRT using primary datasets will be helpful to describe
the environmental performance of SWRT. These processes include but are not
limited to: SWRT membrane production process, SWRT machine production process,
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Complete fertilizer emission inventory in sandy soil:
differences between fertilizer emissions in sandy soil and loamy soil are indirect
collecting SWRT yield records could enhance the temporal representative of the
whole study.
A few processes in this study lack representation for U.S. conditions. So if possible,
improving the following processes will enhance the geography and technology
representation. These processes include but are not limited to: seed production
The missing data include but are not limited to irrigation pump production and the
and products was not included. When transportation information becomes available,
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Improve experimental design:
The experimental designs for the year 2012 and 2013 were not supportive of
in the coming few years should be considered to obtain robust comparison data to
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