Life Cycle Assessment of Thai Hom Mali Rice to Support the Policy Decision on Organic Farming Area Expansion
Rattanawan Mungkung, Saruda Sitthikitpanya, Sarocha Dangsiri, Shabbir H. Gheewala
Sustainability · 2020
Thailand has a strategic national policy to increase organic rice farming. This study firstly applied Life Cycle Assessment for evaluating the quantitative environmental impacts at the regional and national levels to facilitate the national policy decision on the expansion of organic rice cultivation areas. The impact categories of interest included global warming, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and freshwater ecotoxicity, and the life cycle impact assessment method applied was ReCiPe. The results showed that the life cycle environmental impacts from organic rice cultivation in the nine provinces in the North were lower than those from the 12 provinces in the Northeast, due mainly to the higher yields and lower use of fertilizers in the former. The methane emissions in the North (11,147 kg CO2e/ha) were similar to those in the Northeast (11,378 kg CO2e/ha). However, nitrous oxide emissions in the Northeast were higher than in the North due to the higher amounts of fertilizer used. If Thailand expands the rice farming by 50% in the North and by 50% in the Northeast, the greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced from 11,400 to 11,100 kg CO2e/ha, but the impacts of terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and freshwater ecotoxicity could be increased by 0.0257 kg PO4e (95%), 0.508 kg 1,4-DBe (53%), and 33.1 kg 1,4-DBe (17%), respectively. To reduce the global warming as well as other environmental impacts, Thailand should expand rice farming areas to the North. This information could be useful for supporting the policy decisions on which areas the organic rice farming should be expanded in to minimize the potential life cycle environmental impacts.
Development of Ready-to-Eat Color Rice Product Enriched With Natural Amino Acids
Prajongwate Satmalee, Vipa Surojanametakul, Ngamjit Lowithun, Rattanawan Mungkung, Sarocha Dangsiri
Journal of Agricultural Science · 2019
A meat-free diet and the aging society cause some of the health problems. One of that was the deficiency of some essential amino acid in the diets. Riceberry has recently been developed in Thailand. This new variety of colored rice has a dark purple seed coat containing anthocyanin which acts as an antioxidant. Similar to normal rice, riceberry lacks lysine which plays an important role in maintaining body systems through hormone release and muscle mass maintenance. To enrich ready-to-eat rice products, red bean was added as a natural amino acid source. This formulated product had higher protein and ash content, while energy, fat and carbohydrate content were not different from the control. The essential amino acid profile of the product was complete and product shelf life was 6 months with an unchanged texture. Anthocyanin and antioxidant capacity of the product decreased with storage time. This product suited a wide range of consumers and was convenient for modern lifestyles that demand healthy, ready-to-eat foodstuffs.
Life Cycle Assessment of Hempstone for Green Buildings
Rattanawan Mungkung, Singh Intrachooto, Nathapon Srisuwanpip, Anyarat Lamai, Kannika Sorakon, Kittwan Kittipakornkarn
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · 2018
Hemp is a non-psychoactive (less than 1 % tetrahydrocannabinol) variety of Cannabis sativa L. It is cultivated on hills and used mainly for textiles. Hemp requires less water and pesticides. It grows fast (3 - 4 m in 3 months) and has a high carbon sequestration rate of 1.67 kg CO2-eq per kg of hemp fibre. The local hemp in Thailand is the Rpf3 species developed by the Highland Research and Development Institute. This study aims at exploring the potential use of hemp for eco-building materials to meet the increasing demands for green buildings by applying the upcycling design concept. Hemp stalks left after fibre harvesting were sun dried before ground into small pieces of varying sizes. Artificial stones (polyester-resin solid surface material) left over from production processes were also collected. Hemp materials and artificial stone scraps were used at different proportions to develop a new composite called Hempstone. The study found that Hempstone did not require the drying process; hemp fibers helped absorb the moisture. Hemp fibres also offered unique natural aesthetic. Quality tests were conducted to ensure that Hempstone was fit for use in construction. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to identify the potential reduction of environmental impacts of typical artificial stone and Hempstone. The results indicated that the Hempstone sheet (0.82 x 3.04 x 0.012 m) with 10 % of hemp-stalks (6 - 10 mm size) and 7.5 % or 10 % by weight of artificial stone scraps performed best with the potential reduction of environmental impacts by 40 % on climate change, 42 % on freshwater eutrophication, 55 % on terrestrial eco-toxicity and 60 % on terrestrial eco-toxicity. With the growing pursuit of green buildings, these reductions show that the potential use of hemp in local eco-building materials to help reducing impact on the environment.
Implications of Water Use and Water Scarcity Footprint for Sustainable Rice Cultivation
Thapat Silalertruksa, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Rattanawan Mungkung, Pariyapat Nilsalab, Naruetep Lecksiwilai, Wanchat Sawaengsak
Sustainability · 2017
Rice cultivation is a vital economic sector of many countries in Asia, including Thailand, with the well-being of people relying significantly on selling rice commodities. Water-intensive rice cultivation is facing the challenge of water scarcity. The study assessed the volumetric freshwater use and water scarcity footprint of the major and second rice cultivation systems in the Chao Phraya, Tha Chin, Mun, and Chi watersheds of Thailand. The results revealed that a wide range of freshwater use, i.e., 0.9–3.0 m3/kg of major rice and 0.9–2.3 m3/kg of second rice, and a high water use of rice was found among the watersheds in the northeastern region, like the Mun and Chi watersheds. However, the water scarcity footprint results showed that the second rice cultivation in watersheds, like in Chao Phraya and Tha Chin in the central region, need to be focused for improving the irrigation water use efficiency. The alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method was found to be a promising approach for substituting the pre-germinated seed broadcasting system to enhance the water use efficiency of second rice cultivation in the central region. Recommendations vis-à-vis the use of the water stress index as a tool for agricultural zoning policy were also discussed.