Environmental Impact Assessment of an Anaerobic Codigestion System in Western New York State

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Rankin ◽  
Thomas A. Trabold ◽  
Robert Blythe
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
New York State ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Life Cycle Approach ◽  
York State ◽  
Anaerobic Codigestion

Anaerobic codigestion of dairy manure and food-based feedstocks reflects a cradle-to-cradle approach to organic waste management. Given both of their abundance throughout New York State, waste-to-energy processes represent promising waste management strategies. The existing waste-to-energy literature has not yet fully realized the environmental impacts associated with displaced grid electricity generation and feedstock-hauling emissions on the net environmental impact of centralized codigestion facilities. The key objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive environmental impact assessment with the purpose of understanding the existing environmental status of centralized codigestion facilities. Real-time data from an operational codigestion facility located in Western New York State was used to conduct this environmental impact statement. A comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions associated with renewable electricity production at the codigestion facility was developed using the Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) (U.S. EPA), while emissions associated with feedstock hauling were quantified using the fuel life-cycle approach developed by the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation model (GREET) (U.S. DOE). With each of the emissions models used for this analysis, it was determined that the net environmental impact associated with hauling food-related feedstocks from the many locations throughout the Northeast U.S. region would be acceptably low, and thus could be part of future sustainable development of centralized codigestion facilities.

Analysis of Waste-to-Energy Opportunities in the New York State Food Processing Industry

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Trabold ◽  
Rajiv Ramchandra ◽  
Michael H. Haselkorn ◽  
Anahita A. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
New York State ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Solid Waste Disposal ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
York State

Many food processing plants in New York State generate large volume waste streams with a wide variety of physical and chemical properties. With greater environmental regulation and increasing fees for municipal sewer and solid waste disposal, additional innovative ‘disposal’ methods for these wastes need to be developed. One attractive alternative is to use the food processing waste as feedstock for a waste-to-energy conversion process comprising two distinct systems, namely waste-to-fuel and fuel-to-energy. The fuel can either be sold to generate revenue, or converted on-site to electrical or thermal energy to offset the plant power requirements. In this study, the technical viability and economic benefit of applying waste-to-energy solutions to a diverse selection of companies producing milk, cheese, beer, and tofu were assessed. Depending upon the volumes and composition of the available waste streams (including analysis of sugar content, biological oxygen demand, etc.) there may be a compelling business case to utilize the food waste as feedstock for ethanol, biodiesel or methane-rich biogas production.

Environmental impact assessment of solid waste management in Beijing City, China

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 793-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Thomas H. Christensen ◽  
Wenjing Lu ◽  
Huayong Wu ◽  
Hongtao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Beijing City

Testing a complete-diet model for estimating the land resource requirements of food consumption and agricultural carrying capacity: The New York State example

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian J. Peters ◽  
Jennifer L. Wilkins ◽  
Gary W. Fick
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
New York State ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
York State ◽  
Complete Diet ◽  
Resource Requirements ◽  
Per Capita

AbstractAgriculture faces a multitude of challenges in the 21st century, and new tools are needed to help determine how it should respond. Among these challenges is a need to reconcile how human food consumption patterns should change to both improve human nutrition and reduce agriculture's environmental footprint. A complete-diet framework is needed for better understanding how diet influences demand for a fundamental agricultural resource, land. We tested such a model, measuring the impact of fat and meat consumption on the land requirements of food production in New York State (NYS). Analysis was confined to this geographic area to simplify the modeling procedure and to examine the state's ability to reduce environmental impact by supplying food locally. Per capita land resource requirements were calculated with a spreadsheet model for 42 diets ranging from 0 to 381 g d−1 (0 to 12 oz d−1) of meat and eggs and 20 to 45% total calories from fat. Many of these diets meet national dietary recommendations. The potential human carrying capacity of the NYS land base was then derived, based on recent estimates of available agricultural land. A nearly fivefold difference (0.18–0.86 ha) in per capita land requirements was observed across the diets. Increasing meat in the diet increased per capita land requirements, while increasing total dietary fat increased the land requirements of low meat diets but reduced the land needed for high meat diets. Higher meat diets used a larger share of the available cropland suited only to pasture and perennial crops. Thus, only a threefold difference was observed for the potential number of people fed from the NYS land base (2.0–6.2 million). In addition, some high-fat vegetarian diets supported fewer people than lower fat diets containing 63–127 g d−1 of meat (approximately one- to two-thirds of the national average per capita consumption in the US). These results support the assertion that diet should be considered in its entirety when assessing environmental impact. To more completely understand how diet influences land requirements and potential carrying capacity, this model should be applied across a larger geographic area that encompasses a wider variety of climates and soil resources. To better understand the ability of a local region to supply more of its own food, the model should be moved into a geospatial framework.

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