CONTEXT

Persistent drought is affecting the livelihood of American farmers in arid climates. Adopting drought-tolerant crops, such as guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.), is one potential solution for improving economic revenue and reducing the effect of drought on farms. Guar produces guar gum, which is a thickening and stabilizing agent in fluids used most recently in the hydraulic fracking of shale oil and gas recovery.

OBJECTIVE

This study was performed to investigate the economic and environmental feasibility of cultivating guar in the American Southwest and transporting it to a domestic processing facility for the primary product of guar gum.

METHODS

An integrated techno-economic (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) was performed on the cradle-to-gate process of producing guar gum for domestic supply in the United States. TEA was performed to investigate the economic performance on the farm and downstream for the guar gum production facility. Similarly, the LCA investigated the environmental impact to the farm and the primary product of guar gum.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Baseline results indicate a minimum selling price of $1.44 per kg-guar gum, driven largely by irrigation, herbicides and associated equipment use. A best case economic scenario where irrigation and fertilizers were removed, low-cost herbicides were used and less intensive land management practices were adopted, highlights the feasibility of guar gum being produced for as low as $0.45 per kg-guar gum, which is lower than the five-year average U.S. import price of $0.99 per kg-guar gum. Environmental impacts of guar gum are largely attributed to irrigation and agricultural equipment use. The indicator, global warming potential, resulted in farm-level emissions of 1160 per hectare of guar grown. The combined farm, transportation and downstream processing production processes results in 2.67 kg CO₂eq per kg-guar gum, or 806 kg CO₂eq per hectare, which is lower than the farm emissions due to a co-product credit for animal feed.

SIGNIFICANCE

The economic results indicate that guar gum can be produced for less than average U.S. import prices. The environmental impact results indicate that growing guar would lead to lower emissions than existing crops when cultivated in the American Southwest.

中文翻译：

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将瓜尔豆纳入美国西南部的经济和环境分析

语境

持续干旱正在干旱地区影响着美国农民的生计。采用诸如瓜尔豆（Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.）等耐旱作物是提高经济收入和减少干旱对农场影响的一种潜在解决方案。瓜尔胶生产瓜尔胶，瓜尔胶是页岩油和天然气采收率水力压裂中最新使用的流体中的增稠剂和稳定剂。

客观的

进行这项研究的目的是调查在美国西南部种植瓜尔豆并将其运输到国内加工设施中作为瓜尔豆胶主要产品的经济和环境可行性。

方法

在美国国内生产瓜尔豆胶的从摇篮到大门的过程中，进行了集成的技术经济（TEA）和生命周期分析（LCA）。进行了TEA调查以研究瓜尔胶生产设施在农场和下游的经济表现。同样，LCA调查了对农场和瓜尔豆胶主要产品的环境影响。

结果和讨论

基准结果显示，最低售价为每公斤瓜尔胶1.44美元，主要是受到灌溉，除草剂和相关设备使用的推动。取消灌溉和肥料，使用低成本除草剂并采用集约化土地管理实践的最佳经济案例，突显了瓜尔豆胶的生产成本低至每公斤瓜尔豆胶0.45美元，低于美国的五年平均进口价格为每公斤瓜尔胶0.99美元。瓜尔胶的环境影响在很大程度上归因于灌溉和农业设备的使用。该指标是全球变暖的潜力，导致每公顷瓜尔豆生长的农场一级排放量为1160。农场，运输和下游加工生产过程的结合，产生了2.67 kg的CO ₂当量/千克瓜尔胶，或806千克CO ₂当量/公顷，由于动物饲料的副产品信用而低于农场的排放量。

意义

经济结果表明，瓜尔豆胶的生产价格低于美国平均进口价格。对环境的影响结果表明，在美国西南部种植时，瓜尔豆种植会导致比现有作物更低的排放。