Sugarcane production, as well as bioethanol from sugarcane, are part of the most important activities in Tucuman and North Western (NW) region of Argentina. This study shows the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to such activity. LCA is an appropriate tool to estimate the environmental burdens associated with a product or process during their entire life cycle from cradle (extraction of raw materials) to grave (disposal). This technique allows identifying critical process steps susceptible of improvements and is an important contribution in decision-making. LCA is performed according to the procedures included in the ISO 14040 standards.

The aim of this paper is to present the environmental profile of bioethanol from sugarcane in the province of Tucuman (NW region), evaluating a set of relevant environmental impacts through LCA technique.

The boundaries of the sugarcane system included biomass, sugar and alcohol production. The functional unit is defined in 1 kg of bioethanol obtained at the gate of the distillery. The data used for making inventories have been mostly collected directly from the field, mill and distillery, through interviews with experts from agribusiness and Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres (EEAOC) as well as available publications. Material and energy balances were also performed and international databases were used (eg. Ecoinvent v3). The LCA study is conducted with the help of software SimaPro® v8.1.1.16 (PRé Consultants), a software tool compatible with ISO 14040, while resorting to method of ReCiPe Midpoint V1.12 for impact assessment.

The study revealed that all impact categories are dominated by the contribution of the production of sugar and molasses, which embeds the mill and sugarcane environmental impact too.

As a result of this study, the environmental profile of bioethanol produced in Tucumán was obtained. It has to be noted that in terms of climate change category, a positive environmental impact prevails due to the absorption of CO2 during sugarcane growth.

This study also makes available information of sugar and ethanol production in other impact categories, which contributes to its sustainability definition as a biofuel. This depends largely on the actions and technological developments implemented to mitigate the environmental impact of biofuel production stages.