Carbon footprint assessment of natural rubber derived from Liberian hevea trees

The purpose of the study is to analyze current hevea farming practices and block rubber manufacturing in Liberia and estimate their carbon footprint. A cradle to gate life cycle assessment was performed on hevea rubber produced in Liberia. Primary activity data was collected from farmers and rubber mills and used to validate an engineering process model which was coupled with life cycle inventory data to perform a life cycle assessment. The modeling work includes alternative farming scenarios. Results show that 1 kg of block rubber (99