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An assessment of environmental impacts of

cassava starch extraction technologies

Conference Paper January 2012

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 An assessment of environmental impacts
of cassava starch extraction technologies
T. Trana,*, G. Dab, K. Piyachomkwanf, M. Morenoc,
G. Velezd, A. Giraldo-Toroe, K. Srirothf, D. Dufoura,e
a Centre de coopration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le dveloppement (CIRAD), Persyst Department,
UMR Qualisud, TA-B95/15, 73 rue JF Breton, 34398 Montpellier, France
b CERTES, Universit Paris-Est Crteil, 61 avenue du Gnral de Gaulle, 94000 Crteil, France
c Universidad del Valle (UniValle), Cali, Colombia
d Deriyuca LTDA. Carrera 89 # 10-80 apartamento 323 - Multicentro - Unidad 20-21, Cali, Colombia
e International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
f Cassava and Starch Technology Research Unit (CSTRU / BIOTEC), Kasetsart University, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

* Corresponding author: Tel +33-467615847; E-mail thierry.tran@cirad.fr

Introduction
The environmental impacts of the transformation of cassava roots into
starch were assessed for three contrasting technologies at small (ST1,
ST2) and very large scale (VLT), meaning 1-2 and 100-200t starch per day,
respectively. The goal of the study was to assess energy and water use for
each unit operation, so as to identify high usage hotspots. The Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) framework was applied in order to test its relevance as
a tool to analyze unit operations environmental performance, for process
eco-engineering purposes.
Fresh Cassava Roots
Results
Energy and water consumption varied widely between technologies
(figures 2 & 3). The large scale technology required 702kWh/t starch,
mainly (75%) from fuel oil used for the drying operation, but was the most
efficient in terms of water use (10m3/t starch) due to the practice of water
recycling between unit operations. The two small scale technologies were
similar in terms of electricity use (59kWh/t starch), and were able to rely on
solar energy for drying, due to the small volumes of production. In contrast,
water consumption varied from 20 to 60m3/t starch between the two small
scale technologies due to differences in the design of the rasping and
starch recovery (extraction) operations.

100% 100%
WASHING 3.6
28.4

80% 18.3
RASPING 80% 7.4
33.0 33.2 34.7 Drying - Fuel oil
Separation - Recycled
Drying - Elec Separation
60% 540.3
EXTRACTION Separation Extraction - Recycled
Factory

Extraction 60% 6.2

50.3 Extraction
Rasping 18.8
40% Rasping - Recycled
SEPARATION Root washing
31.9 Rasping
13.6 Water pump 6.9
Root washing - Recycled
40%
22.1
20% 28.4 Root washing
DEWATERING 33.0 45.6
50.3 8.1
45.6 2.3 20%
4.3 1.6 2.2
0% 11.8 2.8
DRYING 0.3

VLT VLT ST1; ST2;

9.1
Electricity + Electricity 59.2kWh/t 58.6kWh/t 2.0
fuel oil; only; 0%
Starch (12% moisture) 702.2kWh/t 161.9kWh/t VLT; 9.8m3/t ST1; 20.8m3/t ST2; 62.1m3/t

Figure 1: Unit operations of
the cassava starch
extraction process. The
dotted line represents the
selected system boundaries.
Figure 2: Energy consumption by unit operations of VLT,
ST1 and ST2 technologies (large, small 1 and small 2
respectively). The figures within the bars and on the
horizontal axis indicate actual energy use per operation
and total energy use respectively, in kWh/t starch.
Figure 3: Freshwater consumption by unit operations of
VLT, ST1 and ST2 technologies. The figures within the
bars and on the horizontal axis indicate actual water use
per operation and total water use respectively, in m3/t
starch.

100% 100% 100%

Methods VLT
80%

60%
ST1
80%

60%
ST2
80%

60%

40% 40% 40%

The system boundaries were defined as the unit
20% 20% 20%
operations used to transform fresh cassava roots
0% 0% 0%
delivered at factory gate into loose, dry cassava
rtic al o um eple e
n

te rm y
Fr erre nisin orm n
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starch (figure 1). The functional unit (FU) was

rr utr ic

n p

ic

n p
n to

at an d to

rr utr ic

n p
p

l la nd u
if

al lan cc
O ate

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e

Drying
lim

lim

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et

et
u

et
a
zo

zo

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at

at
C

defined as one ton of loose, dried cassava starch Centrifugation Sedimentation Sedimentation
e
es st

es st
es s
al

al
te

at a
ar

ar

ar

Separation Separation
a

Separation
Pa mic

Pa mic

Pa ic
m
ur

Extraction Extraction Extraction

he

he

he

(i.e. starch at 12% moisture content on a wet

Ag

Ag

Ag
oc

oc

oc

Rasping Rasping Rasping

ot

ot

ot
Ph

Ph

Washing Washing
Ph

Washing

weight basis, wwb), obtained at the end of the
manufacturing process.
Primary data for ST1 and ST2 factories were
obtained from the authors own measurements in
collaboration with one cassava starch factory
based in Vietnam (suburban Hanoi region) and
one based in Colombia (Cauca department). Data
for the VLT factory and data related to water and
chemicals consumption (e.g. alum, SO2) were
based on measurements published by
Piyachomkwan et al. (2005), Sriroth (1996) and
Sriroth et al. (2000) in Thailand. The factories
surveyed were representative of the standard
technology used in the three regions of the study.
Acknowledgments
Stakeholders of the cassava starch industry in Vietnam and Colombia, and staff and students at HUST and
CIAT, who made possible the data collection. The support of Le Thanh Mai from HUST regarding the electricity
Figure 4: Environmental impacts characterization of the transformation of cassava roots into starch for the
very large scale (VLT) and two small scale (ST1, ST2) technologies.
Results (continued) Conclusions
The LCA characterizations (figure 4), Among the three technologies assessed, markedly
using the ReCiPe method, indicated different levels of energy and water consumption were
that the main impact contributions were identified for some unit operations, such as extraction or
at the drying operation for the large root washing, which indicates the potential for technology
scale technology, and at the extraction transfers and improvements of the overall environmental
operation for the small scale performance of the cassava starch industry.
technologies, mainly because of energy This work demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of
use, as well as water use in the case of applying LCA concepts for integrating environmental
the most water-intensive technology. performance indicators in the design and evaluation of
transformation processes for agro-industrial products. The
environmental dimension should come in addition to other
aspects including process yields, microbial safety and
product quality.
www. post er session. com

mix in Vietnam is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank CIRAD and CIAT for financial support.