Life cycle assessment of the use of nanomaterials in biogas production from anaerobic digestion of manure

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 417-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Hijazi ◽  
E. Abdelsalam ◽  
M. Samer ◽  
Y.A. Attia ◽  
B.M.A. Amer ◽  
...  
Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1285
Author(s):  
Fabiola Filippa ◽  
Francesco Panara ◽  
Daniela Leonardi ◽  
Livia Arcioni ◽  
Ornella Calderini

In the last years the greenhouse effect has been significantly intensified due to human activities, generating large additional amounts of Greenhouse gases (GHG). The fossil fuels are the main causes of that. Consequently, the attention on the composition of the national fuel mix has significantly grown, and the renewables are becoming a more significant component. In this context, biomass is one of the most important sources of renewable energy with a great potential for the production of energy. The study has evaluated, through an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) study, the attitude of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) as “no food” biomass alternative to maize silage (corn), in the production of biogas from anaerobic digestion. Considering the same functional unit (1 m3 of biogas from anaerobic digestion) and the same time horizon, alfalfa environmental impact was found to be much comparable to that of corn because it has an impact of about 15% higher than corn considering the total score from different categories and an impact of 5% higher of corn considering only greenhouse gases. Therefore, the analysis shows a similar environmental load in the use of alfalfa biomass in energy production compared to maize. Corn in fact, despite a better yield per hectare and yield of biogas, requires a greater amount of energy inputs to produce 1m3 of biogas, while alfalfa, which requires less energy inputs in its life cycle, has a lower performance in terms of yield. The results show the possibility to alternate the two crops for energy production from an environmental perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 130-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Abdelsalam ◽  
O. Hijazi ◽  
M. Samer ◽  
I.H. Yacoub ◽  
A.S. Ali ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Bravo ◽  
I. Ferrer

Life Cycle Assessment was used to evaluate environmental impacts associated to a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Barcelona Metropolitan Area, with a treatment capacity of 2 million population equivalent, focussing on energy aspects and resources consumption. The wastewater line includes conventional pre-treatment, primary settler, activated sludge with nitrogen removal, and tertiary treatment; and the sludge line consists of thickening, anaerobic digestion, cogeneration, dewatering and thermal drying. Real site data were preferably included in the inventory. Environmental impacts of the resulting impact categories were determined by the CLM 2 baseline method. According to the results, the combustion of natural gas in the cogeneration engine is responsible for the main impact on Climate Change and Depletion of Abiotic Resources, while the combustion of biogas in the cogeneration unit accounts for a minor part. The results suggest that the environmental performance of the WWTP would be enhanced by increasing biogas production through improved anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6894
Author(s):  
Shakira R. Hobbs ◽  
Tyler M. Harris ◽  
William J. Barr ◽  
Amy E. Landis

The environmental impacts of five waste management scenarios for polylactic acid (PLA)-based bioplastics and food waste were quantified using life cycle assessment. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the potential for a pretreatment process to accelerate the degradation of bioplastics and were modeled in two of the five scenarios assessed. The five scenarios analyzed in this study were: (1a) Anaerobic digestion (1b) Anaerobic digestion with pretreatment; (2a) Compost; (2a) Compost with pretreatment; (3) Landfill. Results suggested that food waste and pretreated bioplastics disposed of with an anaerobic digester offers life cycle and environmental net total benefits (environmental advantages/offsets) in several areas: ecotoxicity (−81.38 CTUe), eutrophication (0 kg N eq), cumulative energy demand (−1.79 MJ), global warming potential (0.19 kg CO2), and human health non-carcinogenic (−2.52 CTuh). Normalized results across all impact categories show that anaerobically digesting food waste and bioplastics offer the most offsets for ecotoxicity, eutrophication, cumulative energy demand and non-carcinogenic. Implications from this study can lead to nutrient and energy recovery from an anaerobic digester that can diversify the types of fertilizers and decrease landfill waste while decreasing dependency on non-renewable technologies. Thus, using anaerobic digestion to manage bioplastics and food waste should be further explored as a viable and sustainable solution for waste management.


Author(s):  
Farhad Sakhaee

Abstract: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate environmental impacts based on products of a process. This research is a case study of wastewater treatment facilities of ERTC (Environmental Resources Training Center), SIUE University, based on available data for two semi-annual sludge quantities (year 2015) from sludge management report. The aim of this study is to compare set of possibilities for a wastewater treatment facility at ERTC. The simulation has been done through SimaPro model. Electricity and methane were considered and the cumulative weight of their impacts has been investigated. Total solids for two semi-annual sludge has been fed to the model in kilogram and different production (electricity and methane) configuration were investigated. The most plausible configuration based on the cumulative environmental impact proposed as best practical solution.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document