Environmental and economic evaluation of coffee residues

Abstract

Brazil is a country of agricultural culture, and for over a hundred years has been the largest coffee producer. Thus, the work proposes alternatives for the use of agricultural residues from coffee production, analyzing them from an environmental and economic point of view. A coffee crop was selected from the municipality of Santa Rosa da Serra (Minas Gerais, Brazil), and three scenarios were established. Scenario 1: husk is discarded outdoors; scenario 2: energy use of the husk for gasification and subsequent production of electricity; scenario 3: use of the husk as an organic fertilizer. An economic and environmental analysis was conducted from these three scenarios. The gasification technology with the coffee husk, although technically feasible, according to the economic analysis becomes unfeasible, since the value of this electric generation was higher than the other generation values. Scenarios 2 and 3 that applied sustainable practices resulted in negative values for the environmental impacts of water depletion and depletion of fossil fuels, proving the benefits of such practices. The gasification process needs technological development to make the enterprise economically viable. Sustainable practices in coffee cultivation bring environmental benefits in the short and long terms.