Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Aquafaba: Applications in the Food and Cosmetic Sectors and Comparison with Conventional Alternatives

Aquafaba, the cooking liquid of legumes, has recently shifted from being a discarded waste stream to a valuable functional ingredient due to its emulsifying and foaming properties. This study addresses two sustainability challenges: reducing the environmental impacts associated with animal-based ingredients in the food sector and decreasing the reliance on petrochemical-derived ingredients in cosmetic formulations. A life cycle assessment approach was applied using two functional units to represent different applications: 100 g of powdered aquafaba for cosmetic use and 100 g of liquid aquafaba with stabilizing additives for food use. Three allocation scenarios were evaluated to reflect different production contexts: baseline, zero burden and economic allocation based on co-product value. The results show that powdered aquafaba used in cosmetics has higher environmental impacts than conventional petrochemical emulsifiers, mainly due to the energy demand of the spray-drying process. In contrast, liquid aquafaba used in food applications exhibits significantly lower environmental impacts than egg-based alternatives. Overall, the environmental performance of aquafaba strongly depends on processing intensity and allocation assumptions.