Environmental benefits from the use of the residual biomass in nurseries

Recchia, Lucia; Sarri, Daniele; Rimediotti, Marco; Boncinelli, Paolo; Vieri, Marco; Cini, Enrico

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.09.010

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The data for energy, material inputs and outputs for both protein hydrolysate production systems were obtained from the literature [26] and Table 1. Up-stream processes used for the LCA implementation of the two production chains of biostimulants.…”

Section: Lca Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data for energy, material inputs and outputs for both protein hydrolysate production systems were obtained from the literature [26] and interviews with experts, such as production managers of companies dealing with the production of protein hydrolysates. The lupine production was assessed based on data collected in [23,26]: an inventory of the agricultural data used in the LCA is reported in Table 2. For the leather wastes, a specific analysis was carried out in order to calculate which impacts could be associated to these wastes.…”

Section: Up-stream Production Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Analyzing the Environmental Impact of Chemically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Leather Waste vs. Enzymatically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Legume Grains

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Protein hydrolysates are largely used as plant biostimulants for boosting crop growth, and improving crop tolerance to abiotic stresses and fruit quality. Protein hydrolysate-based biostimulants are mostly produced by chemical hydrolysis starting from animal wastes. However, an innovative process of enzymatic hydrolysis of legume-derived proteins has been recently introduced by few companies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the energy use and environmental impact of the production processes of enzymatically-produced protein hydrolysate starting from lupine seeds and protein hydrolysate obtained from chemical hydrolysis of leather wastes through the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA method was applied through the software GEMIS "Global Emission Model for Integrated Systems", elaborated at L'Oko-Institute in Germany, and the parameters taken into account were: CO 2 emissions in g per kg of protein hydrolysate; the consumption of fossil energy expressed in MJ per kg of protein hydrolysate; and water consumption reported in kg per kg of protein hydrolysate. In the case of legume-derived protein hydrolysate, the evaluation of the energy use and the environmental impact started from field production of lupine grains and ended with the industrial production of protein hydrolysate. In the case of animal-derived protein hydrolysate, the LCA method was applied only in the industrial production process, because the collagen is considered a waste product of the leather industry. The type of hydrolysis is the step that most affects the energy use and environmental impact on the entire industrial production process. The results obtained in terms of CO 2 emissions, fossil energy consumption and water use through the application of LCA showed that the production process of the animal-derived protein hydrolysate was characterized by a higher energy use (+26%) and environmental impact (+57% of CO 2 emissions) in comparison with the enzymatic production process of lupine-derived protein hydrolysate. In conclusion, the production of legume-derived protein hydrolysate by enzymatic hydrolysis is more environmentally friendly than the production of animal-derived protein hydrolysate through chemical hydrolysis.

show abstract

Section: Lca Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Up-stream Production Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the Environmental Impact of Chemically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Leather Waste vs. Enzymatically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Legume Grains

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When considering the end-of-life of used media (peat and garden waste compost) as soil amendments, Boldrin et al (2010) found that growing media with 50 vol% peat replacement by compost performed better with regards to global warming, nutrient enrichment and acidification versus fully peat-based growing media. Recchia et al (2013) concluded that the use of the residual biomass in nurseries, including the chipping of wood for energetic reuse and the reuse of the spent growing medium in new blends, resulted in an important environmental impact reduction versus landfilling.…”

Section: Reusementioning

confidence: 99%

Grow - Store - Steam - Re-peat: Reuse of spent growing media for circular cultivation of Chrysanthemum

Vandecasteele¹,

Blindeman²,

Amery³

et al. 2020

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Substantially extending the life span of peat-and perlite-based growing media is a measure to increase the sustainability of soilless cultivation. The extraction of peat from pristine peatlands threatens these sensitive ecosystems and carbon sinks, meanwhile resulting in increased emissions of greenhouse gasses. Each batch of peat that is reused, results in a clear reduction in CO 2 emissions and a lower impact on the climate. After using growing media for one cultivation, we aim at reusing the spent material as growing medium for another crop. Spent peat and perlite based growing media from strawberry and cucumber cultivation were upcycled after steam treatment. We tested the effectiveness of steaming to reduce phytosanitary risks. The hygienisation efficiency of the steam treatment was confirmed: plant pathogenic fungi, larvae of vine weevils and weed seeds added or already present before the process were killed by the steam treatment. As the upcycled spent growing medium already contained high nutrient levels, the fertilizer application in the reused growing medium should be reduced, especially for P and K. Five indicators for assessing stability of the materials were used: CO 2 flux measurements, oxygen uptake rate (OUR), biodegradation potential, mineral N content and risk for N immobilization. The spent growing media had a low decomposition rate and the release of nutrients in a leaching experiment was lower than for a fertilized peat-based growing medium, being a reference blend for open field cultivated Chrysanthemum. N mineralisation and P uptake were tested in an incubation and pot trial, respectively, and the upcycled spent growing medium was found to be an important source of plant-available K and P. Steam treatment did not severely affect the microbial biomass and diversity of the spent growing media. Blending the steam-treated spent media with other materials or inoculating by a commercially available biocontrol fungus also had a limited effect, indicating that newly introduced microorganisms do not easily establish in steamed-treated spent growing media (SSGM). Acidification of the SSGM was achieved by a low dose of elemental S. The steam-treated growing medium was tested for growing Chrysanthemum cuttings and plantlets. Spent growing media were not able to supply sufficient mineral N, but the stored amounts of P and K in the media were sufficiently plant available for optimal crop growth.

show abstract

“…There is a large body of literature concerning the use of organic wastes as peat substitutes or additives (Abad et al, 2001;Jayasinghe et al, 2010a;Recchia et al, 2013;Smart et al, 2016). Generally, organic waste requires aging or composting in order to be transformed into mature and stable products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrochars from Biosolids and Urban Wastes as Substitute Materials for Peat

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peat is the most widely used substrate component and extensively used in greenhouse cultivation, landfill cover soils, urban parks and gardens, urban agriculture or green roofs, due to its excellent combination of physicochemical properties. The production of hydrochar by hydrothermal carbonization (a process at lower temperatures than pyrolysis and using wet conditions) could industrially reproduce the initial conditions of biomass humification and lead to materials with similar properties to those of peat. The objective of this work was to compare peat (PT, Control), a hydrochar prepared from biosolids (HSL), a hydrochar prepared from the organic fraction of urban wastes (HUW) and two mixtures (PT + HSL and PT + HUW) at a 50% volume rate for their potential use as substrates with multiple applications. Ryegrass was established at a rate of 40 g seeds cm−2 in the potting mixtures. Hydrophysical and biochemical properties (microbial biomass and the enzymes dehydrogenase, β‐glucosidase and phosphomonoesterase) were analyzed for PT, HSL, HUV and their combination (PT + HSL and PT + HUW). Treatments with biosolids hydrochar increased ryegrass production by 184% (HSL) and by 216% (PT + HSL) dry weight compared to the control (peat). Biochemical properties depended strongly on hydrochar type, while the hydrophysical properties of the hydrochars were similar to those of peat. Overall, our results found hydrochar–peat mixtures (PT + HSL and PT + HUW) to be suitable for the preparation of growing media. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Environmental benefits from the use of the residual biomass in nurseries

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Analyzing the Environmental Impact of Chemically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Leather Waste vs. Enzymatically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Legume Grains

Analyzing the Environmental Impact of Chemically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Leather Waste vs. Enzymatically-Produced Protein Hydrolysate from Legume Grains

Grow - Store - Steam - Re-peat: Reuse of spent growing media for circular cultivation of Chrysanthemum

Hydrochars from Biosolids and Urban Wastes as Substitute Materials for Peat

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About