Application of life cycle assessment to high quality-soil conditioner production from biowaste

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Waste management (New York, N.Y.). - 1999. - 172(2023) vom: 01. Dez., Seite 216-225
1. Verfasser: Arfelli, Francesco (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Cespi, Daniele, Ciacci, Luca, Passarini, Fabrizio
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2023
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Waste management (New York, N.Y.)
Schlagworte:Journal Article Agricultural waste Biowaste valorization Circular economy Life cycle thinking Vermicomposting Soil Solid Waste Carbon Dioxide 142M471B3J mehr... Carbon 7440-44-0
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The recent large-scale urbanization and industrialization resulted in an impressive growth of solid waste generation worldwide. Organic fraction generally constitutes a large fraction of municipal solid waste and its peculiar chemical properties open to various valorization strategies. On this purpose, life cycle assessment is applied to an innovative industrial system that processes 18 kt/y of agricultural and livestock waste into a high-quality soil conditioner. The high-quality soil conditioner production system consists of a series of processes, including anaerobic digestion and vermicomposting, allowing the generation of a peat-like material with high carbon content, porosity, and water-holding capacity. The presence of a photovoltaic plant and a cogeneration plant, fed with the biogas produced in the anaerobic digestion, makes the system entirely self-sufficient from the national grid and generating a surplus of electricity of 1177MWh/y. The high-quality soil conditioner showed better environmental performances in 15 out of 18 impact categories when compared to alternative scenarios. In particular, the high-quality soil conditioner and the related biowaste management resulted in a carbon saving of around 397 kg CO2 eq/ton compared with a scenario involving the employment of peat in place of the high-quality soil conditioner and a traditional biowaste management, and 165 kg CO2 eq/ton compared with a scenario where cogeneration is replaced by biomethane upgrading. This study demonstrates the possibility of using organic waste as an environmentally sustainable and renewable source for energy and carbon to soil conditioning
Beschreibung:Date Completed 28.11.2023
Date Revised 28.11.2023
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status MEDLINE
ISSN:1879-2456
DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2023.10.033