Impact of hardwood generation on rice production with regard to water footprint profile by LCA in Eucalyptus-rice agroforestry projects in Thailand | |
| Author | Hla Hla Htwe |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-15-06 |
| Subject(s) | Rice--Water requirements--Thailand Plants--Water requirements--Thailand Eucalyptus--Water requirements--Thailand Agroforestry--Thailand |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-15-06 |
| Abstract | This study aimed to investigate water footprint profiles and water scarcity indicator of rice production farmed with and without Eucalyptus trees in Eucalyptus-Rice agroforestry project in Thailand as well as to compare these impact potentials between two cases. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used as a technical tool to assess the impacts from-farm gate to farm-gate stage and defining 1 tonne of rice in 8 crop cycles of rice and 1 life cycle of Eucalyptus plants and 1 tonne as a function unit of this study. This research was conducted based on the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data of rice and Eucalyptus production obtained from a field study, and then analyzed water footprint profiles by LCA approach through SimaPro version 8.0.4.26. This research is basically carried out in terms of carbon footprint, water footprint and sustainability evaluation and the latter two scopes are analyzed by my co-researchers. For water footprint profile of rice production at midpoint level, five impact potentials such as freshwater eutrophicaton, marine eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity and water depletion are evaluated. This study was used ReCiPe midpoint (H) method, and the results showed that the most potential water-related impacts for both systems were freshwater ecotoxicity because of pesticide consumption and water depletion (m³) as a result of water irrigation with the value of 1.5kg (1,4-DB to fresh water), 2570 m³ and 1.71kg ( 1,4 DB to fresh water), 2570m3 for 1 tonne rice production farmed without and with Eucalyptus trees respectively. In this case, quantification of water scarcity level for these two systems, water scarcity indicator (WSI) are calculated by using water scarcity method(Hoekstra et al 2012), the results showed that the value of WSI for both systems were definitely same and also water scarcity potential was being in low level. This research hence showed that the Eucalyptus-Rice based agroforestry system may not have water scarcity potential in this area. |
| Year | 2015 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shipin, Oleg V.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Visvanathan, C. ;Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015 |