Developing an index to assess human toxicity potential of sugarcane industry

Abstract

Despite the importance and characteristics sugar-energy industry, the specialized literature does not present studies to analyze specifically the human toxicity of residues and by-products generated by this industry. Therefore, the objective of this article is the proposal of an unprecedented Human Toxicity Potential Index (Htpi) applied to the sugar-energy industry in order to evaluate its environmental performance based on the human toxicity potential. The Htpi indicator developed in this work takes into account, for each residue and by-product generated: i) the relative weighting of the potential impact on human health; (ii) the relative quantity produced over a given period of time; (iii) the relative geographical coverage or relative spatial dispersion that each residue/by-product can achieve; and iv) the evaluation of the suitability of the final destination of each residue/by-product practiced by the company, since each company can use adequate or inadequate means in the final disposal. Regarding the potential impact on human health, the results pointed out that the residues/by-products with the highest relative weight are vinasse (35.57%), filter cake (29.15%) and bagasse-burning ashes (27.38%). The proposed index was tested in a large Brazilian sugar-energy enterprise in which, despite the large amount of residues and by-products generated, the result achieved was environmentally friendly. The Htpi index resulted in 93.97%, which means that 93.97% of the residues and by-products generated by this company have an adequate environmental allocation when considering its human toxicity potential.