# What are the emissions from processing lac into shellac?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/lac-processing-unit-emissions-per-kg

Stick lac is crushed, washed, dried and melted into shellac. Emissions come from electricity for crushers and washers, and fuel for melting and drying. Lac itself is a natural resin, so its carbon is biogenic. Record fuel and power per kg of shellac made.

## Process steps

1. Crushing and sieving stick lac.
2. Washing to seedlac, then drying.
3. Melting and filtering to shellac flakes.

## What to record

Units on the electricity bill, fuel bought for melting, and kilograms of seedlac and shellac produced each month.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.

- [Biomass fuel still has CH4 and N2O](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-boiler-ch4-n2o-still-scope-1)
- [Buyer asks before first order](https://senseible.earth/answers/buyer-asks-carbon-data-before-first-order)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2: Energy](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.