US-20260127622-A1 - CARBON FOOTPRINT ACCOUNTING METHOD FOR PRODUCTION PROCESS OF CAMELLIA OIL

US20260127622A1US 20260127622 A1US20260127622 A1US 20260127622A1US-20260127622-A1

Abstract

A carbon footprint accounting method for a production process of camellia oil is provided, relating to field of forestry carbon neutrality; divides the production process of the camellia oil into an afforestation subsystem and a crude camellia oil subsystem; classifies inputs categories into energy, fertilizers, chemicals, materials, transportation, and waste treatment; accurately analyzes a carbon emission inventory throughout an entire life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil; and precisely defines a system boundary for carbon footprint accounting, therefore laying a foundation for subsequent carbon footprint accounting and facilitating an accurate calculation of carbon footprint of each subsystem. Then after collecting an inputs categories data of each subsystem, the carbon footprint of each subsystem is calculated to be cumulatively summed to obtain whole carbon footprint of the entire life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil.

Inventors

Meifang Zhao
Mengde Sun
Yingying Xia
Peng Kang

Assignees

CENTRAL SOUTH UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY AND TECHNOLOGY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20250514
Priority Date: 20241101

Claims (7)

1 . A carbon footprint accounting method for a production process of camellia oil, comprising following steps: (a) dividing subsystems and determining system boundaries, functional units, and trade-off criteria for carbon footprint in a life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil; (b) determining carbon emission inventories of the respective subsystems based on production information of the production process of the camellia oil, analyzing the carbon emission inventories in the life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil, and determining an input inventory and an output inventory for each of phases; (c) determining a calculation method, an allocation procedure, a data requirement and emission factors of each of the subsystems, wherein the calculation method comprises calculating total emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) in the life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil as per the following formula (1) and formula (2): E = ∑ i ⁢ ( G i × EF ij ) formula ⁢ ( 1 ) where E represents emissions of a greenhouse gas j of the functional unit, G i represents activity usage data of an input i, and EF ij represents an emission factor of the input i generating the greenhouse gas j, CF = ∑ i ⁢ ( E i × GWP j ) formula ⁢ ( 2 ) where CF represents carbon footprint of the functional unit, E j represents the emissions of the greenhouse gas j of the functional unit, and GWP j represents a global warming potential; (d) conducting experiments, performing carbon balance consideration, and continuously monitoring and tracking carbon emissions and carbon sequestration; (e) constructing carbon emission accounting models by using an emission factor method, and obtaining the carbon footprint of the production process of the camellia oil by using the carbon emission accounting models of the respective subsystems; and (f) conducting uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to determine emission proportions and data quality; wherein the step (e) comprises constructing the carbon emission accounting models for two subsystems namely an afforestation subsystem and a crude camellia oil subsystem and conducting carbon footprint accountings as follows: carbon footprint of the afforestation subsystem comprises a total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by consumption of environmental resources and energy in all production processes within the afforestation subsystem expressed as the following formula (12): E forest = E Ene + E fer + E cha + E mat + E T + E was ( 1 - W 1 ) formula ⁢ ( 12 ) where E forest represents the carbon footprint of the afforestation subsystem, W 1 represents a loss rate of the afforestation subsystem, E Ene represents carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions corresponding to energy consumed by the functional unit, E cha represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to chemicals consumed by the functional unit, E mat represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to materials consumed by the functional unit, Er represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to electricity consumed by the functional unit, E was represents carbon footprint during a waste treatment process, and E fer represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to fertilizers consumed by the functional unit; carbon footprint of the crude camellia oil subsystem comprises a total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by consumption of environmental resources and energy in all production processes within the crude camellia oil subsystem expressed as the following formula (13): E oil = E Ene + E fer + E cha + E mat + E T + E was ( 1 - W 2 ) formula ⁢ ( 13 ) where E oil represents the carbon footprint of the crude camellia oil subsystem, and W 2 represents a loss rate of the crude camellia oil subsystem; and for the camellia oil, carbon footprint for a product of the camellia oil comprises a total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by consumption of environmental resources and energy during a process of producing one ton of crude camellia oil expressed as the following formula (14): E FU = E total P formula ⁢ ( 14 ) where E FU represents carbon footprint of one functional unit, and E total represents total carbon footprint of the production process of the camellia oil.
2 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in the step (a), the system boundaries comprise all processes in the life cycle of the production process of the camellia oil from camellia oleifera planting to crude camellia oil outcome, including: the afforestation subsystem from a cradle to a woodland gate, and the crude camellia oil subsystem from the woodland gate to an oil mill gate; wherein the afforestation subsystem comprises a production process of fresh camellia oleifera fruits from the cradle to the woodland gate, including: a preparation and planting stage, a young forest nurturing stage, a mature forest management stage, and a camellia oleifera fruit harvesting stage; and wherein the crude camellia oil subsystem comprises a production process of the camellia oil from the woodland gate to the oil mill gate, including: a pre-treatment stage, a camellia oil extraction stage, and a camellia oil refining stage.
3 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 2 , wherein for the afforestation subsystem, an objective is to generate a detailed inventory for camellia oleifera woodland operations in the production process of the camellia oil, and the detailed inventory is used for carbon footprint accounting of the product of the camellia oil, and assessment of greenhouse gas in a life cycle of economic forest; a coverage of the assessment is from the cradle to the woodland gate, comprising: material and chemical inputs, electricity and fuel consumption, labors, and transportation of inputs and products of a woodland and its suppliers, but the coverage of the assessment does not comprise productions of capital equipment and facilities for management operations of the woodland; wherein the function unit of the afforestation subsystem is one kilogram of the fresh camellia oleifera fruits; and wherein the system boundary of the afforestation subsystem is from a seedling nursery gate to the woodland gate, comprising direct and indirect inputs and outputs of raw material collection, land preparation, camellia oleifera woodland management and camellia oleifera fruit collection.
4 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 2 , wherein for the crude camellia oil subsystem, an objective is to generate a detailed inventory for processing plant operations in the production process of the camellia oil, and the detailed inventory is used for carbon footprint accounting of the product of the camellia oil, and assessment of greenhouse gas in the life cycle of economic forest; a coverage of the assessment is from the woodland gate to the oil mill gate, comprising: material and chemical inputs, electricity and fuel consumption, labors, and transportation of inputs and products of an oil mill and its suppliers; wherein the function unit of the crude camellia oil subsystem is one ton of crude camellia oil; and wherein the system boundary of the crude camellia oil subsystem is from the woodland gate to the oil mill gate, comprising direct and indirect inputs and outputs of raw material transportation, pre-treatment, camellia oil extraction and camellia oil refining.
5 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 1 , wherein carbon footprint accounting is carried out for different inputs at each sub-phase, each process and each stage, the inputs comprise on-site energy, fertilizers, chemicals, materials, transportation and waste treatment; wherein consumption of the on-site energy is expressed as the following formula (3): E Ene = E Elec + E Fuel + E Lab formula ⁢ ( 3 ) where E Ene represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the energy consumed by the functional unit, E Elec represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to electricity consumed by the functional unit, E Fuel represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to fuel consumed by the functional unit, and E Lab represents CO 2 emissions corresponding to labors consumed by the functional unit; wherein consumption of the electricity is expressed as the following formula (4): E Elec = G Elec × EF Elec formula ⁢ ( 4 ) where E Elec represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the electricity consumed by the functional unit, G Elec represents electricity consumed by the functional unit, and EF Elec represents an emission factor of production of electricity; wherein consumption of the fuel is expressed as the following formula (5): E Fuel = ∑ i ⁢ ( U ma × T m e ⁢ f m × Q a ) formula ⁢ ( 5 ) where E Fuel represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the fuel consumed by the functional unit, Uma represents consumption of a fuel a per unit time of a machine m, ef m represents an energy conversion efficiency of the machine m, T m represents a working duration of the machine m, EF a represents an emission factor of the fuel a generating greenhouse gases, and Q a represents an average net calorific value of the fuel a; wherein consumption of the labors is expressed as the following formula (6): E Lab = P × D × EF Lab formula ⁢ ( 6 ) where P represents a number of workers, D represents a total number of working days, and EF Lab represents a single-person single-day CO 2 emissions calculated by an energy method; wherein consumption of the fertilizers is expressed as the following formula (7): E fer = ∑ i ⁢ ( A x × M x × f x × EF x ) formula ⁢ ( 7 ) where E fer represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the fertilizers consumed by the functional unit, A x represents an application area of a fertilizer x, M x represents an amount of the fertilizer x applied per unit area per time, f x represents average fertilization times of the fertilizer x, and EF x represents an emission factor of the fertilizer x generating greenhouse gases; wherein consumption of the chemicals is expressed as the following formula (8): E cha = ∑ i ⁢ ( AD x × EF x ) formula ⁢ ( 8 ) where E cha represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the chemicals consumed by the functional unit, AD x represents activity usage data of a chemical x, and EF x represents an emission factor of the chemical x generating greenhouse gases; wherein consumption of the materials is expressed as the following formula (9): E mat = ∑ i ⁢ ( AD x × EF x ) formula ⁢ ( 9 ) where E mat represents the CO 2 emissions corresponding to the materials consumed by the functional unit, AD x represents activity usage data of a material x, and EF x represents an emission factor of the material x generating greenhouse gases; wherein transportation is expressed as the following formula (10): E T = M T × G T × EF T formula ⁢ ( 10 ) where E T represents the CO 2 emission corresponding to the electricity consumed by the functional unit, M T represents a transportation weight of the functional unit, G T represents a transportation distance of the functional unit, and EF T represents an emission factor of production of transportation; and wherein waste treatment is expressed as the following formula (11): E Was = L p × W i × EF L + I p × W i × EF P formula ⁢ ( 11 ) where E was represents the carbon footprint during the waste treatment process, L p represents a proportion of a waste landfill treatment, I p represents a proportion of a waste incineration treatment, W i represents a weight of a waste i, EF L represents an emission factor of the waste landfill treatment, and EF p represents an emission factor of the waste incineration treatment.
6 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in the step (f), the conducting uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to determine emission proportions and data quality comprises: identifying variable factors, designing experimental schemes, determining activity data and carbon emission factors, conducting experiments, analyzing results, interpreting results, and drawing conclusions.
7 . The carbon footprint accounting method for the production process of the camellia oil as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the performing carbon balance consideration comprises: assessing carbon absorption, calculating net carbon emissions, formulating emission reduction and carbon sequestration measures, realizing carbon balance, and monitoring and tracking.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411547400.4, filed Nov. 1, 2024, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates to the field of forestry carbon neutrality, and more particularly to a carbon footprint accounting method for a production process of camellia oil. BACKGROUND In recent years, global climate change has significantly affected forestry production and management of economic forest resources. Carbon footprint accounting is a quantitative method used to evaluate/assess greenhouse gas emissions generated by a specific activity, product, or system throughout entire life cycle. For camellia oleifera woodland and camellia oil products, understanding carbon emissions in production processes is crucial for optimizing forestry production management, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting sustainable forestry development. Therefore, accounting carbon footprint of camellia oil from afforestation to crude camellia oil is of great practical significance. The Chinese patent document with a publication No. CN115186519A discloses agricultural carbon footprint metering method and device based on variable system boundary scenarios, it performs carbon footprint accounting on wheat, corn, rice and apples, and specifically divides four stages of agricultural production, primary processing of agricultural products, transportation of agricultural products, and disposal of agricultural waste, but does not mention product planting and processing with long production cycle. The Chinese patent document with a publication No. CN114781135A discloses comprehensive estimation method and system for net greenhouse gas emissions of a regional agricultural planting system, and evaluates, by using a life cycle method, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused by agricultural management of wheat, corn, soybeans and rice at four stages of crop growth, namely sowing, management, harvesting, and straw returning; and the CO2 emissions include CO2 emissions caused by the uses of diesel, plastic films, pesticides and irrigation, productions and uses of fertilizers, and straw burning. The Chinese patent document with a publication No. CN118014393A discloses carbon footprint accounting method and system in economic forest improved variety breeding stage, it specifically discloses the carbon footprint accounting method for economic forest species from seedling cultivation to outplanting, which can provide assistance for carbon footprint accounting in an upstream supply chain of camellia oil production, but a problem of the carbon footprint accounting for an entire production process of the camellia oil remains to be solved. The Chinese patent document with a publication No. CN115619069A discloses carbon footprint accounting method and system for full life cycle of tea, and conducts carbon footprint accounting for the full life cycle of tea; the full life cycle of tea includes six stages of planting, processing, packaging, transportation, consumption and treatment. However, a production process of camellia oil is quite different from that of tea, and accounting ranges of available agricultural and forestry patents rarely relate to woody oil plants, leaving a gap in carbon footprint accounting of the camellia oil production, which needs to be filled urgently. Pattara et al. accounted and analyzed five cases of olive oil products in Italy by carbon footprint method, and quantified greenhouse gas emissions related to olive planting and olive oil production (i.e., farm stage and factory stage). L. Fernández et al. quantified an environmental impact of producing one kilogram of unpackaged crude olive oil at farm and industrial stages by using survey data from 11 different types of olive production farms and 12 olive oil processing plants. Naderi et al. studied a carbon footprint and an environmental impact of apples from a production stage to a storage stage during a planting season in the year of 2018. Cabot et al. made a descriptive and critical review of a research status of 16 citrus fruit life cycle assessment (LCA) by a method decision-making and a crop cycle modeling, and found that most of research functional units used quality functional units and a system boundary of “from cradle to farm gate”. Related researches on a carbon footprint of edible oil production mostly focus on production processes of oil products. Researches are not deep enough on the full life cycle process from “the cradle to farm gate”, are not clear about greenhouse gas emissions caused by specific front-end inputs and process steps, and cannot combine raw material production of oil products with product production of oil products, therefore resulting in inaccurate calculations. SUMMARY To solve the aforementioned problems, the disclosure provides a carbon footprint accounting method for a production process of camellia oil so as to solve the proble