Currently industrial organizations noted the importance of preserving the environment
and is demonstrating a growing interest in acting in a sustainable way in the use of
raw materials for generation of products. Therefore, methods and tools that enable
the identification of the relationship between products and processes and the
environment is necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the energy and
environmental performance of the life cycle of sweet potato ethanol production grown
in Tocantins, and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was the tool that allowed us to
analyze the potential environmental impacts for ethanol production, from extraction of
raw materials to production at the plant, evaluating the agricultural and industrial
phases of their life cycle. Based on LCA results was possible to identify the
categories of environmental impact climate change, eutrophication and acidification
Land had higher contributions related to the agricultural phase, whose emissions of
acidifying gases, greenhouse gas emissions and "non-renewable energy resources
use were" related to the use of synthetic fertilizers and the use of fossil fuels
especially in the planting and management of sweet potato process, which indicates
the need for a more efficient use of those resources. In the energy assessment it was
found that the production of sweet potato ethanol is feasible in relation to net energy
generating total of 1.36 MJ for each unit of energy consumed, and 1.76 MJ produced
for each unit of fossil energy expended to manufacture.
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