Title
First series of seafood datasets in ecoinvent: setting the pace for future development
Date Issued
01 July 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Springer
Abstract
Purpose: The number of life cycle assessment studies related to seafood has risen considerably in the past decade. Despite this proliferation, major life cycle inventory databases tend to lack information describing this sector. Hence, the main objectives of this study are to present the first effort to aggregate and standardize seafood-related datasets in the ecoinvent database and to explain the main data sources and methodological choices used in the building of the datasets. Methods: A list of the main datasets included in this first series is presented with a brief description of the underlying modelling approaches. Seafood capture, production and processing activities were modelled as the use phase of the required infrastructure. The full life cycle of infrastructure was considered, from construction, through use and maintenance to end-of-life. Results and discussion: Some of the most representative seafood industries in South America were modelled, namely Peruvian anchovy and hake fisheries, Andean trout, Brazilian tilapia and Peruvian fishmeal production, as well as the production of canned, frozen, cured and of a multi-ingredient fish-based product (fish sticks). Inventory data were found to be in line with those of seafood LCA literature and driven by the parameters widely known to be critical: fuel use intensity for fisheries, feed conversion ratio for aquaculture and energy intensity for seafood processing and reduction into fishmeal. The modelling approach was modular and intuitive, thus useful and reproducible by database users and data providers. Conclusions: The datasets created constitute a robust basis for the use of seafood-related data in international databases. It is expected that this work will stimulate further efforts by practitioners and data providers to model their inventory data into ecoinvent and other life cycle inventory databases.
Start page
1333
End page
1342
Volume
25
Issue
7
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Alimentos y bebidas Ingeniería industrial Pesquería
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85068992939
Source
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
ISSN of the container
09483349
Sponsor(s)
The authors of this manuscript would like to thank Pedro Villanueva-Rey and Daniel Verán-Leigh for their support in building the datasets. María Teresa Moreira and Gumersindo Feijoo, from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Pierre Fréon, from the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), and Jara Laso, María Margallo and Rubén Aldaco, from the Universidad de Cantabria, are all thankfully acknowledged for their time and expertise on fisheries and seafood processing. Matheus Medeiros (former EMBRAPA and INRA PhD student) is thanked for contributing to the project with aquaculture data for Brazil. Friederike Ziegler and Kristina Bergman (RISE) are thanked for the review efforts. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) programme partially financed this work. Acknowledgements.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus