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An Application of Life Cycle Assessment School of Sciences and Engineering ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF SUGARCANE INDUSTRY IN EGYPT: AN APPLICATION OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT By DALIA ADEL HABIB NAKHLA Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering with a concentration in Environmental Engineering Under supervision of: Dr. Salah El Haggar Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Dr. Bahgat Ali Emeritus Professor, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture December, 2014 PREFACE “Sustainable development” was the target of my career since I received my Masters of Science in Environmental Engineering from the American University in Cairo in 1997. My work experience revolved around environmental management and finding of engineered solutions to pressing environmental issues in Egypt. Working for the Egyptian Ministry of Environmental Affairs and then shifting to providing consultancy work in the field of environmental degradation and enhancement has broadened my horizon and built a solid practical experience. The PhD program came as a chance to contribute to the knowledge base of environmental management and preservation in Egypt. Solid waste management was one of the pressing national issues and realizing the fact that waste is an opportunity rather than a nuisance is the start. Hence, I wrote my first conference paper “Egypt’s Biomass from an Environmental Landmine to an Energy Mine” that was presented as part of the Proceeding of the 6th International Perspective on Water Resources and Environment 2013 by the Environment and Water Resource Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineering (EWRI/ASCE) that took place in January 2013, in Izmir- Turkey. This was followed by the paper “Impact of Biomass in Egypt on Climate Change” which was published in the Natural Science Journal, Vol.5, No.6, 678-684, 2013 (http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2013.56083). I was keen to introduce the concept of life cycle assessment as a methodology to assessing waste management options in Egypt. The issue of agricultural and agro- industrial residues and their reuse options was one of the vital topics. Episodes such as the “black cloud” resulting from the open burning of agricultural waste especially rice straw, emphasized the research topic. The sugarcane industry was the most appealing area and the Egyptian Sugar and Integrated Industries Company showed great cooperation in providing the data needed to establish life cycle inventories needed for the work. The objective became to use the LCA methods to assess the current situation of the sugarcane industry in Egypt and compare current practices and projects based on environmental performance. My research also contributed, through pilot scale experimentation, to investigating other waste management options including composting and silage making. The aim was to close the natural cycle by reaching a zero waste industry. A number of papers were formulated as the work developed. The first was “Environmental Assessment of Utilization of Sugarcane Waste/By-products in Egypt” which was presented in the EurAsia Waste Management Symposium on May 2014 in Istanbul Turkey. The other was “Environmentally Balanced Sugarcane Industrial Complex in Egypt” which was included in the Proceedings of Symbiosis 2014 International Conference which was held in Athens on 19-21 June 2014. A poster was also presented on the same topic “Environmentally Balanced Sugarcane Industry in Egypt” during the Youssef Jamil Summer School which was held in Cardiff, Wales on 14-16 June 2014. Finally the paper “A Proposal to an Environmentally Balanced Sugarcane Industry in Egypt” was accepted and ii published in the International Journal of Agricultural Policy and Research Vol.2 (9), pp. 321-328, September 2014 (http://journalissues.org/ijapr-september-2014/). I was also honored by my professor and supervisor Dr. Salah El Haggar to contribute to his latest book “Sustainability and Innovation: The Next Global Industrial Revolution” with Chapter 9 “Beyond Sustainability for the production of Fuel, Food & Feed”. iii DEDICATION To my Family, I would like to dedicate this thesis and all my life achievements so far, to my dear parents, Eng. Adel H. Nakhla and Mrs. Amani B. Megally. Without their dedication, effort, support, care and love, I could have never made it so far. I am eternally indebted to them. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my partner and friend, my husband Dr. Amir Anwar for his encouragement and back up and for his patience. Thank you for always believing in me and for being proud of my achievements. I am also grateful to my jewels, my daughters, Sandra and Nadine for their understanding of how much this milestone has meant to me and for their continuous support and for cheerful encouragement. Last, but never least, I am indebted to my soul mate and sister, Eng. Dina Nakhla, for her substantial assistance in proof reading my thesis and providing valuable comments and proposals. Thank you for always being here for me. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I am grateful to the Almighty God for blessing my life with so many gifts and opportunities that are much more than I deserve, and for carefully and timely planning my life and for being there by my side every step of the way. There are several people who I wish to thank for their contribution and support. The completion of this thesis would not be possible without their assistance and support. I would first like to thank Mr. Yousef Jameel for his generous contribution to the PhD program in Applied Sciences and Engineering and for the Fellowship Award I was granted for the four academic years. His generosity has made it possible to initiate a PhD program at the American University in Cairo which came to the benefit of Egyptian students especially qualified females who were not able to travel outside Egypt to pursue their studies and dreams. I am also grateful to the Office of the Dean for Graduate Studies for approving research and conference grants that covered most of the expenses of my research, conferences and publications. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my mentor and supervisor, Professor Salah El Haggar, Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department for his advice, guidance and support. Thank you for boosting up my confidence and for having faith in my capabilities. Thanks for always being there when I felt lost or was about to give up. Your doors, mind and heart were always opened for me and all your students, and for that, we are most grateful. I would also like to thank my co-advisor, Dr. Bahgat Ali for his patience and time, for the expertise and for all the technical support that he provided. I am deeply grateful for the support that he and Dr. Yehya Ibrahim have provided with regards to composting. Moreover, I am grateful to Dr. Bernhard Steubing, Institute for Environmental Engineering in Zurich, for his tutoring and guidance with regards to life cycle assessment and for the time and effort he put in reviewing the LCA related sections of my thesis. I would like to acknowledge the former and current Chief Executive Officers of the Egyptian Sugar and Integrated Industries Company, Eng. Hassan Kamel and Mr. Mohamed Abdel Reheem, for approving my request to collaborate with their Company and for allowing me to conduct field visits and interviews in their mills to gather the required data. I am grateful to Eng. Abdel Latif Forgany, Eng. M. Elshazly, Eng. Nagy Naguib for the data they have provided. Special thanks to Eng. Noshy Sadek for his time and support during my field visits to the sugarcane fields and sugar mills in Upper Egypt. I would also like to thank the Research Institute for a Sustainable Environment (RISE) for allowing me to set up my pilot experiment within their facilities and for the AUC Landscaping staff, Eng. Mahmoud Moharam and Eng. Tawheed Abdel Wahab for providing the manpower, equipment and support required for execution of my experimental work. v ABSTRACT Sugarcane industry in Egypt goes back to the year 710 AD. Cane plantations are concentrated in the area of Upper Egypt. The total amount of cane cultivated in Upper Egypt is about 16 million tons per year. There are eight sugarcane producing factories in Egypt, most of them located close to the cultivations. The sugarcane industry in Egypt can be currently defined as an open industrial system that consumes material and energy and creates products and wastes. The two main stages of sugarcane production are the agricultural stage and the industrial stage. The agricultural stage involves cane cultivation which involves the use of fertilizers, water and fuel for irrigation, and cane harvesting which results in the production of two main residues which are cane tops and dry leaves. The cane tops are collected and used by the farmers to feed their livestock. The dry leaves, on the other hand, are openly burnt resulting in pollution of the ambient air. The cane is transported from the fields to the mills mainly by the sugarcane train. In the mill, the production process involves the consumption of chemicals, water and fuel to produce a number of by-products in addition to the main two products: raw sugar and molasses. The main residues or by-products are filter mud residing from the juice clarification process, bagasse from the cane squeezing and furnace ash in case the bagasse is burnt in the power house to provide steam and electricity for the mill. The filter mud and furnace ash are used in their raw form as soil additive due to their nutritional value. The bagasse, on the other hand, is either burnt in the mill power house to provide steam and electricity to the mill, or is directed to auxiliary factories to produce paper or fiberboard.
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