Energy Balance and Green House Gas Emisson on Smallholder Java Coffee Production at Slopes Ijen Raung Plateau of Indonesia

Abstract

Coffee production has been a major source of income in Indonesia since the early twentieth century. This study aimed to estimate the energy balances and determine the environmental impact of Robusta and Arabica coffee production as well as identify the measures to increase the efficiency of Robusta and Arabica yield using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The potential adverse impacts of processing ground coffee manifest themselves in the forms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, acidification, as well as water and environmental pollution due to solid and liquid waste disposal. The total GHG emissions for Arabica coffee processing is 1,804 t CO2-eq year-1 while for Robusta, it is 1,356 t CO2-eq year-1. The total acidification potential for Arabica coffee processing can be given by 8,013 kg NO2-eq year-1 and 10,663 kg SO2-eq year-1, while for Robusta coffee processing, the potential for acidification is represented by 60.97 kg NO2-eq year-1 and 79.58 kg SO2-eq year-1, and the potential GHG per unit weight of Arabica and Robusta ground coffee processing were 98.7 CO2-eq kg-1 and Robusta 119.6 CO2-eq kg-1, respectively. The potential measures to mitigate this include replacing gasoline with biofuel, utilising liquid waste with chemical processing, and solid wastes of coffee production, such as brickquetess and bio-pellets for renewable energy.