Reducción del impacto ambiental a través de la evaluación de la huella de carbono en productos procesados del sector de alimentos de la provincia de Pichincha : propuesta de mejora de reducción del impacto ambiental, a partir de la cuantificación de la huella de carbono, utilizando la metodología del análisis del ciclo de vida para el aderezo de salsa de tomate en la empresa “Rey Sabor”.

Abstract

In a business environment that is increasingly aware of the importance of environmental sustainability, the quantification of the carbon footprint is one of the main topics of interest. The present work is focused on the quantification of the carbon footprint generated by the productive processes related to the manufacture of tomato sauce dressing in a company located in the Metropolitan District of Quito, through the Life Cycle Analysis (ACV) , which makes it possible to quantitatively determine the amount of CO2 equivalent in the subsystems of production of raw materials and inputs, transportation, electricity consumption, fuel consumption, and waste generation. Based on these results, to be able to make decisions to improve production processes so that they are more sustainable. In the first phase, the objectives and scope of the study were defined according to the limits of the system, the functional unit and the flows within the life cycle and the characterization of the processes was carried out. In the second phase, an inventory of inputs and outputs of raw materials, energy resources, means of transport was carried out. In the third phase, the impact assessment was carried out, where the emissions generated by the activity are calculated to convert them into environmental impact indicators. In the last phase, the results were interpreted, and an improvement plan based on the principles of Green Engineering and best practices for carbon footprint management was proposed.