Life cycle assessment for sustainable production of concentrated apricot juice

Increased greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of large amounts of fossil energy sources are considered to be one of the main causes of global warming and may be considered as one of the most serious problems human beings facing. Sustainability is closely related to the environmental impact of all industrial applications. Sustainability aims to create an appropriate balance between environmental, social and economic issues throughout the entire life cycle of the product. In this thesis, the sustainability approach which is becoming more and more important all over the world has been applied for the production of apricot juice concentrate. For this purpose, a concentrated apricot juice production line of a fruit juice concentrate factory located in Sultanhisar district of Aydın province was examined in detail. Within this scope, the process beginning from the delivery of apricots by trucks to the storage of aseptic bags was discussed. Life cycle assessment was made by considering raw materials, water, heat and electrical energy used in production and the resulting wastes. As a result of this study, the carbon footprint of 1 kg apricot juice concentrate has been calculated as 1.62 kg CO2eq.