Estimation method of laying hen carbon footprint

Abstract

The invention discloses a laying hen carbon footprint estimation method, and particularly relates to the technical field of carbon emission. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of the laying hens comprises the following steps: S1, determining the boundary of a life cycle system, including three stages of feed production, parent breeding and commodity incubation; s2, collecting life cycle data, wherein the life cycle data comprises foreground data and background data; s3, constructing a life cycle model through life cycle evaluation software, and carrying out carbon footprint accounting; and S4, calculating uncertainty by adopting a CLCD quality evaluation method, and outputting a carbon footprint result containing a confidence interval. According to the method for estimating the carbon footprint of the laying hen, the integrity of estimation of the carbon footprint is ensured, and the carbon emission of the whole life cycle of the laying hen is more accurately evaluated.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of carbon emissions, and in particular to an egg chicken carbon footprint estimation method. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the increasingly prominent problem of global climate change, countries have taken active measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve a low-carbon economy and sustainable development. Agriculture, as one of the important sources of greenhouse gas emissions, its carbon emissions have gradually attracted widespread attention. The egg chicken industry, as an important part of animal husbandry, produces a large amount of greenhouse gases during production, so the assessment and management of its carbon footprint is particularly important.

[0003] Traditional egg chicken production models mainly focus on yield and economic benefits, with little consideration for environmental impact. In recent years, with the strengthening of environmental awareness and the introduction of relevant regulations, more and more research has begun to focus on carbon emissions during egg chicken production. However, current research on egg chicken carbon footprint still has some shortcomings, such as incomplete data collection, existing research often only focuses on carbon emissions in one or a few steps, while ignoring all possible carbon-emitting activities throughout the life cycle.

[0004] In order to overcome the above problems, a method for estimating the carbon footprint of egg chickens is developed to comprehensively consider all aspects of the entire process from the birth of egg chickens to their sale to consumers, helping farmers and enterprises better understand and manage the environmental impact of their egg chicken production process, accurately control and reduce carbon emissions in high-carbon areas, and promote the green transformation and development of the entire industry. SUMMARY

[0005] In view of the above situation, in order to overcome the defects of the prior art, the present application provides an egg chicken carbon footprint estimation method to ensure the completeness of carbon footprint estimation and more accurately assess the carbon emissions of egg chickens throughout their life cycle.

[0006] To achieve the above purpose, the technical solution adopted by the present application is as follows:

[0007] The egg chicken carbon footprint estimation method comprises: S1: determining the life cycle system boundary, including feed production, parent generation breeding and commodity generation hatching three stages;

[0008] S2: Collecting life cycle data, the life cycle data includes foreground data and background data, the foreground data is the carbon-related data statistically produced on site, including energy consumption, material input, transportation and waste treatment in the feed production stage, parent generation breeding stage and commodity generation hatching stage; the background data comes from the Chinese life cycle database (CLCD) or uses the international general life cycle database (Ecoinvent);

[0009] S3: Constructing a life cycle model and calculating carbon footprint by life cycle assessment software (such as eFootprint, OpenLCA or SimaPro);

[0010] S4: Calculating uncertainty by CLCD quality assessment method, and outputting carbon footprint results containing confidence interval.

[0011] Preferably, the life cycle system boundary in S1 specifically includes:

[0012] Feed production stage: including feed processing and production curing, raw material transportation;

[0013] Parent generation breeding stage: including environmental regulation, feeding equipment operation, manure treatment, collection of breeding eggs, and transportation of breeding eggs;

[0014] Commercial generation hatching stage: including fumigation disinfection, hatching workshop environmental regulation, immunization, chick packaging, and unqualified egg / chicken treatment.

[0015] Preferably, the prospect data is complete production cycle data for 12 consecutive months.

[0016] Preferably, when calculating the carbon footprint, it is calculated according to the ISO14067:2018 standard.

[0017] Preferably, the uncertainty calculation in S4 includes: evaluating the inventory data from four dimensions of source algorithm, time representativeness, geographical representativeness and technical representativeness; outputting 95% confidence interval results, and the uncertainty is ≤5%.

[0018] Preferably, when the weight of material input is less than 1% of the total product weight, the upstream carbon emissions are ignored, and the total weight of materials does not exceed 5%.

[0019] Preferably, the laying hen is a commercial generation Hy-Line Brown chick, the functional unit is 1, and the calculation index is GWP-100(IPCC 2021) climate warming potential.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0021] (1) The present application determines the life cycle system boundary of the "cradle to gate" mode, ensures the completeness of the carbon footprint estimation, does not miss any important link, and provides a solid foundation for accurately evaluating the carbon emissions of the whole life cycle of laying hens;

[0022] (2) The present application collects prospect data and background data, the former comes from actual statistics in the production site, and the latter comes from authoritative databases, the combination of the two makes the carbon footprint calculation reflect not only the actual emissions under specific production conditions, but also the industry average level and general environmental impact, achieving the accuracy and representativeness of the data;

[0023] (3) The present application constructs a model by using professional life cycle assessment software such as eFootprint, OpenLCA or SimaPro, can accurately calculate the carbon emissions of each link in the production process of laying hens, effectively improves the accuracy of carbon footprint accounting, follows the international standard ISO14067:2018 for carbon footprint accounting, ensures the international recognition and comparability of the results, so that the method has universality on the international level, and is convenient for enterprises and global peers to compare and exchange carbon emissions;

[0024] (4) The present application adopts the CLCD quality evaluation method to evaluate the inventory data from four dimensions of source algorithm, time representativeness, geographical representativeness and technical representativeness, comprehensively considers the influence of various factors on the accuracy of data, provides a basis for subsequent uncertainty calculation; The 95% confidence interval result is output and the uncertainty is controlled within 5%, while ensuring a certain accuracy, reasonably reflecting the variation range of carbon emission data, providing more reliable information for decision makers, which is helpful for them to develop more targeted emission reduction strategies;

[0025] (5) The present application ignores the upstream carbon emissions when the weight of the material input is less than 1% of the total weight of the product, and ignores the total weight of the material not more than 5%, avoiding excessive calculation of small material inputs, simplifying the carbon footprint model, while ensuring that it will not have a substantial impact on the overall results, improving the calculation efficiency;

[0026] (6) The present application takes commodity Sea-Land brown chicks as the research object, estimates the carbon footprint of this common and important laying hen breed, so that the method has strong pertinence and can directly provide actual carbon emission data support for the breeders of this breed; Taking 1 as the functional unit, the accounting index is GWP-100(IPCC 2021) climate warming potential, which clearly defines the calculation scale and measurement standard of carbon footprint, is convenient for comparison and analysis between different scale farms, and also provides a basis for formulating unified emission reduction targets. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the life cycle system boundary in the estimation method of the laying hen carbon footprint provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The present application will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and examples, and the mode of the present application includes but is not limited to the following examples.

[0029] The estimation method of the laying hen carbon footprint provided by the present application comprises:

[0030] S1: Determine the life cycle system boundary, including feed production, parent generation breeding and commodity generation incubation three stages;

[0031] S2: Collecting life cycle data, including foreground data and background data. The foreground data is the statistical carbon-related data of the production site, including energy consumption, material input, transportation, and waste treatment in the feed production stage, parent generation breeding stage, and commodity generation hatching stage. The foreground data is the complete production cycle data for 12 consecutive months. The background data comes from the China Life Cycle Database (CLCD) or the internationally recognized life cycle database (Ecoinvent). The life cycle system boundary specifically includes: feed production stage: including feed processing production curing, raw material transportation; parent generation breeding stage: including environmental regulation, feeding equipment operation, manure treatment, egg collection, and egg transportation; commodity generation hatching stage: including fumigation disinfection, incubation workshop environmental regulation, vaccination, chick packaging, and unqualified egg / chicken treatment; material input weight <1% of total product weight, ignoring upstream carbon emissions, and ignoring material total weight not more than 5%;

[0032] S3: Build a life cycle model through life cycle assessment software (such as eFootprint, OpenLCA, or SimaPro) and calculate carbon footprint according to ISO 14067:2018 standard;

[0033] S4: Calculate uncertainty using CLCD quality assessment method, output carbon footprint results including confidence interval, uncertainty calculation includes: evaluating the source algorithm, time representativeness, geographical representativeness, and technical representativeness of the inventory data; output 95% confidence interval results, and uncertainty ≤5%, the laying hen is commodity generation Hy-Line Brown chicks, functional unit is 1, accounting index is GWP-100 (IPCC 2021) climate warming potential.

[0034] The China Life Cycle Database (CLCD) used in the process is developed by Yike and based on the industry average database of the core model of the Chinese basic industrial system life cycle. The CLCD database includes inventory data sets of domestic main energy, transportation, and basic raw materials.

[0035] The background data used in the LCA model established in the eFootprint software is shown in the table below:

[0036] Table 1. Background data source table

[0037]

[0038]

[0039]

[0040]

[0041] Data collection

[0042] Life cycle data includes foreground data and background data.

[0043] The data collected by the present invention is the production site 12 months of statistical data. The data time is from January 2023 to December 2023.

[0044] Foreground data: collected by the staff of production department and financial department of Xiaoming shares. Data collection is carried out according to the principle of "from door to door".

[0045] Background data: from CLCD database. These data belong to the category of "from cradle to door".

[0046] Table 2. Process list data table

[0047]

[0048] Table 3. Process transportation information table (foreground data)

[0049]

[0050] Feed

[0051] Table 4. Process list data table

[0052]

[0053]

[0054] Table 5. Process transportation information table

[0055]

[0056]

[0057] Medicines and disinfectants

[0058] Table 6. Process list data table

[0059]

[0060]

[0061] Table 7. Process transportation information table

[0062]

[0063]

[0064]

[0065] Packaging materials

[0066] Table 8. Process inventory data table

[0067]

[0068] Chick packaging

[0069] Table 9. Process inventory data table

[0070]

[0071] Table 10. Process shipping information table

[0072]

[0073] Egg packaging

[0074] Table 11. Process inventory data table

[0075]

[0076] Table 12. Process shipping information table

[0077]

[0078] Life production auxiliary materials

[0079] Table 13. Process inventory data table

[0080]

[0081] Table 14. Process shipping information table

[0082]

[0083] Parental foster farming

[0084] Table 15. Process inventory data table

[0085]

[0086]

[0087] Commercial incubation

[0088] Table 16. Process inventory data table

[0089]

[0090] Chicken manure

[0091] Table 17. Process inventory data table

[0092]

[0093] Life cycle impact analysis

[0094] LCA results

[0095] LCA results The LCA results of the commodity breed of Hy-Line Brown Chicks were modeled on eFootprint, with the indicator of climate change (GWP-2021). The results are as follows

[0096] Table 18. LCA results of the commodity breed of Hy-Line Brown Chicks

[0097]

[0098] Process cumulative contribution analysis

[0099] Process cumulative contribution refers to the cumulative value of the direct contribution of the process and the contribution of all upstream processes (i.e., the contribution of raw material consumption). Since a process usually contains multiple inventory data, the process contribution analysis is actually the cumulative sensitivity of multiple inventory data.

[0100] Table 19. LCA cumulative contribution results of the commodity breed of Hy-Line Brown Chicks

[0101]

[0102] Inventory data sensitivity analysis

[0103] Inventory data sensitivity refers to the rate of change of the corresponding indicator caused by the rate of change of the inventory data. By analyzing the sensitivity of inventory data to each indicator and combining with the improvement potential assessment, the most effective improvement point can be identified. The inventory data with a sensitivity of >0.5% is listed in the table.

[0104] Table 20. Inventory data sensitivity table (unit as in the above table)

[0105]

[0106]

[0107]

[0108] Life cycle interpretation

[0109] Assumptions and limitations

[0110] The following assumptions were made during the evaluation process:

[0111] 1. During the data collection process, the enterprise was unable to accurately collect the electricity, water, and energy consumption in the feed mill, breeding farm, and hatchery processes, so the values contain some data from the staff living area, which is greater than the actual electricity, water, and energy consumption.

[0112] 2. The factors of some feed raw materials, medicines and disinfectants, and daily production auxiliary materials cannot be accurately matched in the database. Therefore, approximate material factors are used as substitutes. Some materials that meet the selection rules are not included in the calculation of this model.

[0113] Completeness Note

[0114] In accordance with ISO 14067:2018, a cradle-to-gate integrity check was conducted, and the system boundary defined in this invention is "cradle-to-gate." The system boundary includes feed production, parent stock rearing, and commercial stock hatching. The prospective data studied includes material consumption and transportation, and the background data is set as "cradle-to-gate." The lifecycle model and analysis methods meet the system boundaries defined in the objectives and scope. According to Table 2-17, the prospective data collected includes the raw materials, energy data, and material transportation data required to produce the product.

[0115] There are no by-products in the production process, so there is no by-product data.

[0116] According to the results of the integrity check, the life cycle environmental impact analysis of the present invention is consistent with the determined research objectives, and the collection of raw material and auxiliary material data is complete.

[0117] Data quality assessment results

[0118] This report uses the CLCD quality assessment method to complete the uncertainty assessment of the model inventory data on the eFootprint system. The research type of this report is , and the data quality assessment results are shown in the table.

[0119] Table 21. LCA data quality assessment results

[0120]

[0121] The present invention obtains the carbon footprint value of a commercial-generation Hy-Line Brown chick produced by Ningxia Xiaoming Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., which represents the actual production level of Xiaoming Co., Ltd. in 2023.

[0122] The analysis shows that the carbon footprint of a commercial Hy-Line Brown chick from cradle to gate is 0.64kg CO2eq.

[0123] Analysis of the product's carbon footprint composition shows that the largest contribution to the product's lifecycle carbon footprint comes from the commercial hatching stage, which emits 0.303 kg CO₂ eq., accounting for 47.3%. Contribution analysis reveals that the majority of environmental impacts come from the disposal of substandard eggs and chickens, accounting for 30.33% of carbon emissions. Second, feed production accounts for 32.46% of total emissions, with soybean meal and corn as raw materials contributing the most.

[0124] The present invention is performed in accordance with the requirements of ISO 14040:2006, ISO 14044:2006, ISO 14067:2018.

Claims

1. A method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens, characterized in that: The steps include: S1: Determine the boundaries of the life cycle system, including three stages: feed production, parent stock rearing, and commercial stock hatching; S2: Collect life cycle data, which includes foreground data and background data. The foreground data is carbon-related data collected at the production site, including energy consumption, material input, transportation, and waste disposal during the feed production stage, parent generation breeding stage, and commercial generation hatching stage; the background data comes from the China Life Cycle Basic Database (or an international general life cycle database; S3: Build a life cycle model and perform carbon footprint accounting using life cycle assessment software; S4: Calculate the uncertainty using the CLCD quality assessment method and output the carbon footprint results including the confidence interval.

2. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: The lifecycle system boundaries in S1 specifically include: Feed production stage: including feed processing, production, maturation, and transportation of raw materials; Parent generation breeding stage: including environmental control, breeding equipment operation, manure treatment, hatching egg collection, and hatching egg transportation; Commercial hatching stage: includes fumigation and disinfection, hatchery environment control, vaccination, chick packaging and handling of unqualified eggs / chickens.

3. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: The outlook data mentioned is for a full 12-month production cycle.

4. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: When calculating carbon footprint, it is calculated in accordance with ISO14067:2018 standard.

5. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: The uncertainty calculation in S4 includes: evaluating the inventory data from four dimensions: source algorithm, temporal representativeness, geographical representativeness, and technical representativeness; and outputting a 95% confidence interval result with an uncertainty of ≤5%.

6. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: When the weight of material input is less than 1% of the total weight of the product, its upstream carbon emissions are ignored, and the total weight of the ignored material does not exceed 5%.

7. The method for estimating the carbon footprint of laying hens according to claim 1, wherein: The laying hens are commercial Hy-Line brown chicks, the functional unit is 1 bird, and the calculation indicator is the GWP-100 (IPCC 2021) climate warming potential value.

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