Dried kiwifruit production by vacuum microwave drying –Effects of different loss rates on life cycle environmental impact–

Abstract

Drying is a food processing operation that reduces post-harvest losses of agricultural products. Although drying consumes a large amount of energy, vacuum microwave drying reportedly uses less energy than other drying methods, potentially reducing environmental impacts. However, a quantitative evaluation of the environmental impact of vacuum microwave drying has not yet been reported. Therefore, we conducted experiments on kiwifruit dried using vacuum microwave drying and evaluated the environmental impact of producing 100 g of dried kiwifruit by a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. We also calculated the losses generated during the drying process and performed a sensitivity analysis. The results showed that in the production of 100 g of dried kiwifruit, the processing stage contributed the most in 15 of 16 impact categories. Within the processing stage, electricity consumption during drying had a large impact. These results suggest the potential for reducing environmental impacts by decreasing electricity consumption during the drying process. The sensitivity analysis results indicated that consideration of the loss ratio is important in environmental impact assessment, as the interpretation of the results depends on the how the loss ratio is defined.