Life cycle assessment of a novel strategy based on hydrothermal carbonization for nutrient and energy recovery from food waste
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Ingeniería QuímicaPublisher
ElsevierDate
2023-03-25Citation
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163104
Science of the Total Environment 878 (2023): 163104
ISSN
0048-9697 (print); 1879-1026 (online)DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163104Funded by
The authors greatly appreciate funding from Spanish MICINN (Project PID2019-108445RB-I00; PDC2021-120755-I00) and the Madrid Regional Government (Project S2018/EMT-4344). A. Sarrion wishes to thank the Spanish MICINN and ESF for a research grant (BES-2017-081515)Project
Gobierno de España. PID2019-108445RB-I00; Gobierno de España. PDC2021-120755-I00Editor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163104Subjects
Anaerobic digestion; Environmental life cycle assessment; Food waste valorization; Hydrochar; Struvite; QuímicaRights
© 2023 The Authors
Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional.
Abstract
In this work, a novel strategy for food waste valorization was evaluated from an environmental life-cycle perspective. A system based on acid-assisted hydrothermal carbonization of food waste combined with the exploitation of hydrochar by combustion and process water through nutrient recovery stage and subsequent anaerobic digestion, was assessed and compared with stand-alone anaerobic digestion as the reference system. This combination of processes aims to recover both nutrients in a stage of struvite precipitation from process water and energy through hydrochar and biogas combustion. Both systems were modeled in Aspen Plus® to identify and quantify their most relevant input and output flows and subsequently evaluate their environmental performance through the life cycle assessment methodology. The novel combined system was found to generally involve a more favorable environmental performance than the reference stand-alone configuration, which would be closely linked to the substitution of hydrochar for fossil fuels. In addition, the impacts associated with soil application of the struvite produced in the integrated process would also be reduced compared to the use of the digestate generated in the stand-alone anaerobic digestion process. Following these results and the evolving regulatory framework for biomass waste management, mainly in the field of nutrient recovery, combined process based on acid-assisted hydrothermal treatment plus nutrient recovery stage and anaerobic digestion is concluded to be a promising circular economy concept for food waste valorization
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Google Scholar:Sarrión Pérez, Andrés
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Medina Martos, Enrique
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Iribarren, Diego
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Díaz Nieto, Elena
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Fernández Mohedano, Ángel
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Dufour, Javier
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