Task 3.4 - Deliverable 1 - Life cycle assessment of the LETSPROSEED pulse protein ingredients

Thank to their agronomical, nutritional and technological interests, pulses are key to achieve the food-related sustainable development goals (SDG). In developed countries, they typically appear as good substitutes to animal proteins, thereby relieving livestock’s environmental impacts of food systems. However, their share in the Western diet has dramatically declined throughout the XXth century. As a consequence, the release of public data regarding processed pulses is slower than for animal-based food products, while comprehensive comparative evaluation capabilities for animal and plant proteins are deemed necessary. Tremendous effort is therefore currently invested to support the reintroduction of pulses in agricultural practices and food innovations. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a standard method that quantifies the potential environmental impacts of a manufactured product. This folder provides life cycle inventory and life cycle assessment datasets related to the processing of a reference spring pea or of five faba bean cultivars into protein concentrates, and of one of the five faba bean cultivars into a protein isolate. Processing was achieved at a semi-industrial scale using classical technologies used in France in the 2020s. Background data was chosen in the Agribalyse 3.0.1 and Ecoinvent 3.8 databases. In the presented semi-industrial protein concentrate production system, the seeds were sorted, cleaned, dehulled then grounded and turbo-separated into a protein-rich and a starch-rich fractions. The data therefore includes the allocation factors to apply mass, dry matter, protein or economic allocation at dehulling and turbo-separation. In the presented semi-industrial protein isolate production system, globulin proteins were extracted from an intermediate flour product by dispersion in water, acid precipitation, neutralization and stabilization into powder. All side streams were regarded as wastes and therefore no allocation was applied. Finally, the data paper provides the potential environmental impacts of 1 kg of each product using the characterization method EF 3.0 and the different allocation rules.