Quantifying environmental impacts of cold chain interruptions using coupled CFD and LCA

Cold chain interruptions (CCIs) can alter energy use and emissions in cold chain logistics (FCCL), yet their impacts are often overlooked in life cycle assessment (LCA). This study integrates computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with LCA to quantify CCI-related impacts, through a gate-to-gate case study of Zigui navel oranges from precooling to cold storage at destination. CFD reconstructs temperature histories, which are converted to stage-specific refrigeration energy usage and fed into LCA to quantify environmental burdens. Two types of CCIs were evaluated: refrigeration pauses have minimal effects, while ambient exposures, especially after precooling, increase global warming potential (GWP) by up to 5.94%. Overall, refrigerated transport contributes over 85% of total GWP, with a distance–GWP slope of 0.0014 kg CO₂-eq/km. Replacing diesel with B5 biodiesel (5% fatty acid methyl esters) reduces GWP by 3.95%. This CFD–LCA framework enables more accurate CCI impact assessments, supporting the design of sustainable FCCL systems.