Environmental Impact of Chitosan Production from Black Soldier Flies Using Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The plastic market is under constant pressure to find viable options to replace petroleum-based polymers. Sustainability has become one crucial parameter when assessing new products or alternatives. Biopolymers are a potential replacement for synthetic plastics because they come from renewable resources. Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer found in nature, and chitosan is the deacetylated product from chitin. Chitosan has many applications that make it an exciting option for the future. In this study, the environmental impact of the production of chitosan from Black Soldier Flies has been assessed considering a techno-environmental perspective. Three processes were evaluated in the production of chitosan from the insect with variations in the amount of reagent used from an optimization perspective. The optimized process, called the recycled process, showed a significant reduction of the environmental indicator across the 18 categories assessed. Using ReCiPe Midpoint H and SimaPro software, the global warming indicator for this process was calculated among other impact categories. One kilogram of chitosan from Black Soldier Flies emitted 7.69 kg CO2 eq. The higher contributor to the major categories was the use of sodium hydroxide in the deproteinization and deacetylation step. Furthermore, the raw material cost for the chitosan produced from the insects is about $10, which situates this option as equal to chitosan produced from other raw materials, shrimp, or crab shells.