Life cycle assessment of bacterial cellulose production

Bacterial cellulose (BC), obtained by fermentation, is an innovative and promising material with a broad spectrum of potential applications. Despite the increasing efforts towards its industrialization, deeper understanding environmental impact related to BC production process still required. This work aimed at quantifying environmental, health, resource depletion impacts BC. An attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied design BC, static culture, following cradle-to-gate approach. The LCA modeled GaBi Pro Software using ReCiPe 2016 (H) methodology indicators midpoint level. functional unit defined as 1 kg (dry mass), in 138.8 water. From total used resources (38.9 ton/kg BC), water main one (36.1 most which (98%) returned fresh waters after treatment. raw materials consumed 17.8 ton water/kg 13.8 for carton packaging, culture medium materials, sodium hydroxide (for washing BC). remaining mainly fermentation (3.9 ton/kg) downstream (7.7 ton/kg). identified impacts, had highest impact, on “Climate change”, “Fossil depletion”, “Human toxicity, non-cancer”, “Terrestrial toxicity”. dihydrogen phosphate production, medium, showed non-cancer” ecotoxicity”, followed corn syrup production. change” depletion”. Per se, small contribution consumption global cycle.