Sustainability and Environmental Impact Evaluation of Corn Husks-to-Bioethanol Production: a Life Cycle Assessment

ABSTRACT To measure the environmental implications of production processes and products usage or deployment to support decision-making, life cycle assessment (LCA) is deployed. This study describes a four-step process for producing condensed information on corn husks to bio-ethanol conversion. An LCA assesses the environmental impact of a product or process throughout its production or existence cycle. A cradle-to-gate LCA model was applied to analyze the production of Bio-ethanol from corn husks. Utilizing midpoint LCIA techniques, the environmental impact of 1 liter of Bioethanol was assessed. Data for this study were sourced from published literatures, internet searches, and the eco-invent database integrated into the OpenLCA 2.0.0 software. The results of the environmental impact assessment were analyzed and interpreted using statistical methods. This allowed for the identification of Terrestrial ecotoxicity and Global warming asthe two major impact categories of the entire conversion process. Based on these findings, the pretreatment of the corn husks and fermentation of the pretreated corn husks directly and greatly affect the quality of the ecosystem. This is because of the carbon dioxide, Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions that are associated with these processes. The conversion of corn husks to bioethanol aligns with the 2 nd , 7th, 12th, and 13th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the USA in 2024.