ABSTRACT                                                                             -> Italian Site

LCA OF BIOLOGICAL AND TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION OF OLIVE OIL

This work has been done in collaboration with UNICAL (University of Calabria), ENEA (National Research Institute of Energy and Environment) and Oliocolli Besidiae.

The purpose of this study is the environmental analysis of olive oil and the comparison between the biological production and the traditional one.
To accomplish this work was employed LCA methodology with which have been considered all phases involved to the production of olive oil. More particularly the attention was focused on the biological production.

This work shows the advantages for the human health and the ecosystem quality due to the biological agriculture, above all, in the tillage'.

Another important aspect comes from the production's cost.
The biological oil is more expensive than the traditional one because of the different kind of bottle used and the certifications required for a biological brand.
The oil production's discard is the olive husk which is used for fuel.
The husk's combustion produces gas with a high pollution degree.

For this reason it was proposed a different husk's use: bricks' production.
LCA methodology was applied on SimaPro 5.0 code throughout Eco-Indicator 99, modified to consider the cost and the olive oil quality's advantages for the human health.