Cocoa production is an important activity for the Colombian agro-industry; however, the production of dry cocoa beans generates agricultural residues as the shells known as cocoa pod husk (CPH), represent 65 to 75 % of the fruit's wet weight. In this contribution, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted on the use of Colombian CPH to obtain activated carbon, potassium hydroxide and cellulose; production of KOH showed the lowest environmental impact. It was found that electricity consumption during the transformation process emerges as the primary contributor in the impact evaluation, and the categories with the most significant impact are HTPc, FETP and METP. When solar drying was considered for CPH pretreatment instead of drying in an oven, the impact quantification significantly decreased up to 63 % to produce cellulose, 56 % for KOH and 32 % for activated carbon. The value-added products obtained exhibit favorable properties, making them suitable for various potential applications.

中文翻译：

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哥伦比亚可可豆荚壳转化为增值产品的生命周期评估

可可生产是哥伦比亚农产品加工业的一项重要活动；然而，干可可豆的生产会产生农业残留物，因为可可豆荚壳 (CPH) 的外壳占可可果湿重的 65% 至 75%。在此贡献中，对使用哥伦比亚 CPH 获取活性炭、氢氧化钾和纤维素进行了生命周期评估 (LCA)； KOH 的生产对环境的影响最小。结果发现，转型过程中的电力消耗是影响评估的主要贡献者，影响最显着的类别是HTPc、FETP和METP。当考虑使用日光干燥代替烘箱干燥进行 CPH 预处理时，对生产纤维素的影响量化显着降低了 63%，对 KOH 降低了 56%，对活性炭降低了 32%。获得的增值产品表现出良好的性能，使其适合各种潜在的应用。