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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF NATURAL

CORK STOPPERS FOR STILL WINE

X. Gabarrell1,2

; J. Rives1; J. Rieradevall

1,2; I. Fernandez-Rodriguez

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1SosteniPrA: UAB IRTA Indit Innovaci, Insitut de Cincia i Tecnologia Ambientals

(ICTA), Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona:

www.sostenipra.cat Email:[email protected]

2Departament dEnginyeria Qumica, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193

Bellaterra, Barcelona

3Insitut Catal del Suro, 17200 Palafrugell, Girona: www.icsuro.com

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation of the natural cork stoppers production for still wine, using

the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in order to identify which stages cause

most pollution. The system considered the transportation of the cork from the forest, the

preparation of the cork planks, the manufacture of the natural cork stoppers, the finishing ofthe products, the distribution and finally, it was also included their disposal. Data was

collected from 5 different representative Catalan companies and subsequently was averaged in

order to obtain a general framework of the sector.

The LCA methodology was used in order to quantify the potential environmental impacts of

the product, following the ISO 14040 regulations. The Functional Unit used to reference all

the flows was a million of natural cork stoppers, which were a diameter of 240.5 mm, a

length of 44-49 mm and a weight of 3.7 g. Results indicate that the manufacturing stage was

the stage causing the greatest impact in 8 of 10 impact categories (ADP, GWP, AP, ODP,

HTP, TETP, FAETP, MAETP), and more specifically, the second boiling was the process

which most contributed to some of this impact.Abstract (catalan)

En aquest article es descriu lavaluaci ambiental de la producci dels taps de suro per vi, tot

utilitzant la metodologia de lAnlisis del Cicle de Vida (ACV), amb lobjectiu didentificar

quines etapes generen ms contaminaci. El sistema considera el transport del suro des del

bosc, la preparaci del suro, la producci del tap de suro, lacabament del tap, la seva

distribuci i finalment, tamb la seva disposici final. Les dades van ser recollides de 5

empreses catalanes representatives i, per tant, es va considerar la mitjana per tal dobtenir una

visi global del sector.

La metodologia de lACV va ser utilitzada per quantificar els potencials impactes ambientals

del producte, tot seguint la norma ISO 14040 . La Unitat Funcional utilitzada per referenciartots els fluxos va ser un mili de taps de suro, que tinguessin un dimetre de 240,5 mm, una

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longitud de 44-49 mm i pesessin 3,7 g. Els resultats indiquen que letapa de producci era

letapa que causava els majors impactes en 8 de 10 categories dimpacte (ADP, GWP, AP,

ODP, HTP, TETP, FAETP, MAETP), i ms especficament, la segona bullida era el procs

que ms contribua a alguns daquests impactes.

Key words

Cork sector, eco-efficiency, LCA, Mediterranean, stopper, wine.

Introduction

Cork oak tree (Quercus suber L.) grows mainly in Mediterranean areas, especially in Portugal

and Spain, where more of 80% of the world cork extraction is concentrated. Climate and

environmental conditions cause a different cork oak trees growth, and consequently the time

of extraction of the cork varies from 9-13 years, depending on the area where the forest islocated (Pereira, 2007). Cork forests contribute to different environmental services such as

carbon dioxide fixing, hydrology regulation, prevention of desertification, preservation of the

wildlife, and other functions. In addition to the environmental value, cork forests also supplies

different kind of natural products to human activities such as cork barks, cork to agglomerate,

mushrooms, biomass, and other forest products.

Due to the fact that cork exploitation is done mainly in the Iberian Peninsula, and also due to

the fact that more than 60% of the worlds wine production is concentrated in the EU, caused

that cork industry was developed especially in these regions (Faostat, 2010). In Catalonia

(Northern Spain), there were 82 companies involved in the cork industry in 2008, and the

turnover reached 228.35 million Euros. Besides, more than 1.200 workers were employed

directly from this industry. It is estimated that Catalonia concentrate 10% of the world naturalcork stoppers production (ICSuro, 2008).

Cork is a natural, environmental and renewable industrial raw material that supports an

integrated chain from production to the consumer with an important impact at economic,

social and environmental levels in the corresponding regions of production and

transformation. It is very useful to produce different kind of products such as insulators,

floorings, boards, insoles so on. But, the products that represent the most important

economical resource are the natural cork stoppers to top still wine. (Pereira, 2007). The main

characteristics of natural cork stopper are a diameter of 240.5 mm, a length of 44-49 mm and

a weight of 3.7 g.

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TRANSPORT FROM THE FOREST

CORK PREPARATION

CORK STOPPER MANUFACTURE

CORK STOPPER FINISHING

TRANSPORT TO WINERIES

WASTE MANAGEMENT (END OF LIFE)

USE OF CORK STOPPERS

TRANSPORT FROM THE FOREST

CORK PREPARATION

CORK STOPPER MANUFACTURE

CORK STOPPER FINISHING

TRANSPORT TO WINERIES

WASTE MANAGEMENT (END OF LIFE)

USE OF CORK STOPPERS

Figure 1. Main stages considered in the natural cork stoppers production system

In figure 1, the system considered can be observed. The main stages of the natural cork

stoppers production are the cork preparation, the cork stoppers manufacturing and the cork

stoppers finishing. Below this stages are described:

The system started when the cork was transported to the preparation factory. Thecork preparation stage consisted in different operations in order to obtain planksto produce stoppers. Some of their operations consisted in the selection of planks

deleting those planks with unpleasant defects such as green cork, yellow spots or

clayed cork. Furthermore, the main characteristic activity of this stage is to boil

and stabilise the cork slabs, generally done by immersing the slabs in hot water

(95C).

The stoppers manufacturing was the subsequent stage, and it was composed ofdifferent processes such as boiling for a second time, cutting the cork into strips

and punching it into cylindrical pieces, sanding the cork down in order to obtain

the required length and diameter, and, in some cases, depending on theenterprise, selecting the cork using a machine with cameras, and manual

selection carried out by experienced workers.

Before transportation to wineries, the cork stoppers are put through the finishingstage that consists of different processes in order to optimise the quality of the

products. Firstly, the natural cork stoppers are washed. Following this operation,

the stoppers are selected and later, a thin film of silicone and/or paraffin is

applied to the cork stoppers to facilitate their insertion into and removal from the

bottles. Subsequently, the stoppers are branded or printed with inks and/or fire.

Finally, the stoppers were packaged and transported to wineries.

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Some environmental strategies in the wine sector have been researched, such as the economic

and environmental analysis of wine bottle production in Spain by means of the life cycle

assessment (Aranda et al., 2005), or the recovery of organic waste in the wine industry

(Ruggieri et al., 2009). It was observed that more research about the impact of natural cork

stoppers production must be done. In this research the main purpose was determine which

stages of the production cause most pollution in order to provide environmental criterion toproducers.

Methodology

The methodology selected to perform the environmental analysis is life cycle assessment

(LCA). This research has been done in conformance with the methodological stipulations of

the ISO 14040 standard (ISO, 2006) and previous works (Iriarte et al. , 2010, Gasol et al.

2009, Gasol et al., 2007, Talens et. Al., 2010). This environmental tool is divided into four

steps: (1) goal and scope definition, (2) inventory analysis, (3) impact assessment, and (4)

interpretation.The system studied refers to the life cycle of cork stoppers, after the transportation of the cork

from the forests, up to disposal of used natural cork stoppers at the finish of their life. The

results of the environmental analysis would enable selection criteria to incorporate

environmental solutions to the overall life cycle production of natural cork stoppers. The

functional unit (FU) was defined as the production of one million natural cork stoppers.

A general framework of the stages involved in producing natural cork stoppers was

established on the basis of consultations with different companies and following the

International Code of Cork Stopper Manufacturing Practice (C.E.Lige, 2006). Then a

specific questionnaire was prepared and sent to the companies, including all the processes,

activities and operations involved in the production. For every operation, all the inputs andoutputs were required. All the data were provided directly by the manufacturers and when the

questionnaires were answered, the Catalan Cork Institute checked and verified it.

Because the main purpose of the study was to evaluate the cork sector, averages of the data

collected had to be calculated. Then, the life cycle of the production of natural cork stoppers

was outlined, taking data from the different companies.

According to ISO 14040, certain categories of operations might be excluded from the

systems. The consumption of resources and energy associated to bottling activities was

considered out of the system, because the aim of this study was to analyse the contribution in

the environmental impact of the different natural cork stoppers stages. Some inputs that

represented a low percentage of the system were not considered because there werentavailable data about it. Moreover, machinery and industrial buildings were not considered,

and the usage stage of the cork stoppers was considered negligible.

Software and databases

The software used to analyse the potential environmental impact was Gabi 4.2 (IKP, 2003).

Besides, the CML 2001 method (Guine et al, 2001) was applied to obtain the results. Also,

general production processes associated to producing raw materials, energies, transport and

waste management were obtained from Ecoinvent 1.2 database (Frischknecht t al., 2005). The

impact categories considered were: Global Warming Potential (GWP 100 years),Acidification Potential (AP), Abiotic Depletion (ADP), Eutrophication Potential (EP),

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Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP), Ozone Layer Depletion Potential (ODP),

Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity Potential (FAETP) Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity Potential

(MAETP), Human Toxicity Potential (HTP) and Terrestric Ecotoxicity Potential (TETP),.

Results

It can be stated that the manufacturing of the natural cork stoppers was the stage which caused

most pollution in terms of ADP, GWP, AP, ODP, HTP, TETP, FAETP and MAETP, between

a 34-65% of the total impact depending on the impact category. Also, for EP and POCP it is

the stage with the second greatest impact, between 28-29%. In figure 2, results are presented.

The second boiling operation was that which caused most part of the impact for ADP, EP and

ODP, while size correction and punched into cylindrical pieces operations contributes most in

the rest of categories.

The transport from the forest was the stage with greatest impact for EP and POCP, between

41-43%. And also, it was the second stage that contributed most in all the other impact

categories. This transport is very important because an important part of the initial cork istransported from Portugal and South Spain (Andalusia and Extremadura), this is motivated

because there isnt enough available cork in Catalonia to satisfy the production.

Environmental impact assessment of natural cork stoppers by production stages

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

ADP

GWP

AP

EP

ODP

POCP

HTP

TETP

FAETP

MAETP

Impact category

Waste management

Transport to winery

Cork stoppers Finishing

Cork stopper Manufacture

Cork Preparation

Transport from the forest

Figure 2. Environmental impact assessment of natural cork stoppers by production

stages

Preparation of the natural cork stoppers, that was mainly composed of different manual

processes and the only technology involved was in the first boiling meant that this stage

contributed to less than 15% of the impacts in all of the environmental categories. The

operation which contributes more to the impact was the first boiling, between 41-97%, mainly

because of the use of diesel oil in boilers.

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The cork stopper finishing stage represented a significant impact for the MAETP (22%), and

in some cases, the impact is approximately similar to that of the initial transport (FAETP,

TETP or ADP), this is mainly caused by the washing-drying operation and the packaging

operation.

The transport to the winery had an impact of between 3-9% of the total impact, and the waste

management stage contributed in less than 3%.

In table 1, it can be found an interesting indicator that measures the difference in the

environmental impact of natural cork stoppers which were produced in one company or in

another. The minimum impact percentage represented the impact that the best producer

caused, while the maximum percentage was those that made the worst producer. For each

category a different percentage range exists because it depends on the substance and

quantities causing the impact. For example, if a company used a greater quantity of a material

that significantly contributes to one impact category than another, this would significantly

increase its impact in that category but not for another. This indicator is very clear to

demonstrate that some companies could improve their production a lot, from an

environmental point of view.

Impact CategoryMINIMUM

IMPACT (%)

MAXIMUM

IMPACT (%)

Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP) 40 182

Global Warming Potential (GWP) 51 157

Acidification Potential (AP) 56 184

Eutrophication Potential (EP) 33 168Ozone layer Depletion Potential (ODP) 26 187

Photochem. Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) 38 158

Human Toxicity Potential (HTP) 54 161

Terrestrial Ecotoxicity Potential (TETP) 59 159

Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity Pot. (FAETP) 64 155

Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity Pot. (MAETP) 55 167

Table 1. Variation of the total impact of natural cork stoppers production depending ondifferent companies

Conclusions

The natural cork stopper industry is a traditional sector where every company has itsown way of producing the corks and it has been observed that usually several

companies are involved in the production process.

The manufacturing stage caused the greatest impact, between 34-65%, in terms ofADP, GWP, AP, ODP, HTP, TETP, FAETP and MAETP.

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Transport from the forest was the stage causing the greatest impact, between 41-43%,in POCP and EP. As regards the rest of the categories, it was the stage which caused

the second largest impact.

Waste management represented less than 3% of the total impact in all the categories,while the transport to winery was 3-9% depending on each impact category.

Important differences between the production of a natural cork stopper in onecompany or in another were observed. This means that the sector could improve and

optimise their processes from an environmental point of view.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Catalan Cork Institute, AECORK and all the companies

which provided data, for their essential support. We would also like to thank the Spanish

Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Trade for the financial support in the CENIT project

DEMETER (Desarrollo de Estrategias y Mtodos vitcolas y Enolgicos frente al cambioclimtico- SA 72).

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