Title: Sustainability assessment of sugarcane and sugar beet production systems by energy and exergy approaches: a case study

Authors: Abbas Asakereh; Mostafa Kiani Deh Kiani; Mohsen Soleymani

Addresses: Department of Biosystems Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran ' Department of Biosystems Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran ' Department of Biosystems Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract: This study aims to determine cumulative energy and exergy consumption in sugarcane and sugar beet production systems in Iran and evaluate their environmental performance. Cumulative energy and exergy consumption, cumulative degree of perfection, and renewability index for sugarcane production were 66,500 MJ/ha, 82,561 MJ/ha, 6.21, and 0.86, respectively, and these values were 48,267 MJ/ha, 67,984 MJ/ha, 165,831 MJ/ha, 6.42, and 0.84 for sugar beet production, respectively. The GHG emissions for sugarcane and sugar beet production were 4,785 kg CCO_2-eq/ha and 2,851 kg CCO_2-eq/ha, respectively, of which about 90% is due to direct and indirect energy consumption for irrigation.

Keywords: cumulative degree of perfection; CDP; cumulative exergy consumption; CExC; energy efficiency; renewability index; sugar beet; sugarcane; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2023.128529

International Journal of Exergy, 2023 Vol.40 No.1, pp.74 - 90

Received: 31 Jul 2022
Received in revised form: 26 Sep 2022
Accepted: 26 Sep 2022
Published online: 25 Jan 2023 *