REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM COCONUT MILK PRODUCTION PLANTS IN THAILAND

Abstract

This research aimed to study how to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas generated during the production process of UHT coconut milk in Thailand. The system boundary was defined from cradle to gate, starting from whole coconut until coconut milk production by using life cycle assessment methodology based on ISO 14040. The study was divided into three groups: 1) greenhouse gas emission from the baseline process, 2) greenhouse gas emission from the co-product development process, and 3) greenhouse gas emission from biogas wastewater treatment systems used for electricity generation. For the baseline case, it was found that during the production of 1 kg of UHT coconut milk, the highest GHG emissions came from raw material procurement (78.55%) followed by the production process (18.54%). Electric power consumption included electricity consumption in the production process (0.59%) and the support system (41%). In addition, the electrical energy consumption for baseline processing and the co-product model from biogas was decreased and directly led to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction in carbon for the production process.