Life cycle assessment of a food waste composting system: environmental impact hotspots

Saer, Alex; Lansing, Stephanie; Davitt, Nadine H.; Graves, Robert E.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.03.022

Cited by 206 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…A source for peer-reviewed literature values for tunnel-based compost emissions was not identified. As such, the Saer et al (2013) windrow-based compost emissions values are used for both windrow and tunnel composting systems. Given the variability in the emissions generated from windrow and tunnel composting systems, this may lead to an underestimation of the tunnel-based composting emissions.…”

Section: Compost Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A life cycle assessment of Agaricus bisporus mushroom production in the USA

Robinson

Winans

Kendall

et al. 2018

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Stakeholders across the food product supply chain are increasingly interested in understanding the environmental effects of food production. Mushrooms are a unique food crop, grown in the absence of sunlight and in climate controlled environments. Few life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted previously on mushrooms and none in the USA. This study assesses the cradle-to-gate life cycle environmental impacts of mushroom production in the USA from cultivation to harvest and preparation for bulk packaging. Methods This process-based LCA uses primary data from mushroom producers to define the foreground system. Primary data for operations were collected from compost and mushroom producers in the USA, representing approximately one third of US mushroom production. Secondary data were collected from life cycle inventory databases and other published resources to define background systems and process emissions from the foreground system. The study uses a functional unit of 1 kg mushrooms and applies the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) impact analysis method, supplemented with additional impact categories for energy use, freshwater use, and 20 and 100-year global warming potentials (GWPs) with and without carbon-climate feedback. Results and discussion Results show that GWP 100 impacts range from 2.13 to 2.95 kg CO 2 e/kg of mushroom product, slightly lower than previous mushroom LCAs conducted for Australian and Spanish production systems. Electricity and fossil fuels were the most impactful inputs, not just for GWP, but most other impact categories as well, followed by compost materials, compost emissions, and transportation. Transport of peat, a key input to the mushroom production substrate, and compost materials contributed to 60 and 36% of the total transportation impacts, respectively. The co-product generated by the system, spent mushroom substrate (SMS), was handled using the displacement method. SMS generated very small credits to the system, less than 1% in every impact category. Conclusions Recommendations to improve the commercial mushroom production process include reducing electricity and fossil fuel use through on-site renewable energy generation. This recommendation is primarily relevant to mushroom producers in the Eastern region of the USA, where the electricity grid is the most coal and fossil fuel-intensive. Future work should contextualize the results of this study in the context of nutrition, meal, or diet-level assessments to enable informed food choices.

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Section: Compost Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Turning and aerating compost frequently will prevent anaerobic conditions and can reduce the CH 4 and N 2 O emissions created by the process (Saer et al 2013). The use of biofilters can also substantially reduce compost 2.49 × 10 emissions such as ammonia (Park et al 2002;Rosenfeld et al 2004;Sánchez et al 2015).…”

Section: Compost Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A life cycle assessment of Agaricus bisporus mushroom production in the USA

Robinson

Winans

Kendall

et al. 2018

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…Tradicionalmente, en países en desarrollo ha predominado la disposición final de los biorresiduos [10]; sin embargo, este método presenta mayores impactos ambientales asociados a la generación de gases de efecto invernadero-GEI y lixiviados, respecto a alternativas de aprovechamiento y valorización como el compostaje, la digestión anaerobia y el vermicompostaje [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…El compostaje es de las tecnologías de mayor aplicación para el manejo de los biorresiduos en países en desarrollo, debido a aspectos como su bajo costo de inversión, operación sencilla y la generación de un producto de valor agregado cuyas propiedades fisicoquímicas y biológicas contribuyen a mejorar la disponibilidad de materia orgánica y nutrientes en el suelo [12,[14][15][16][17][18]. En el caso de Colombia, las plantas de compostaje de biorresiduos se han instalado principalmente en municipios con poblaciones menores a 15.000 habitantes (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Compostaje de biorresiduos: Tendencias de investigación y pertinencia en países en desarrollo

Soto-Paz¹,

Oviedo-Ocaña

Torres–Lozada³

et al. 2017

DYNA

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Biowaste is the main fraction of MSW in developing countries. Composting is a promising alternative for the management of biowaste in these contexts. However, its implementation has not been effective in developing countries, for which it is necessary to explore options to improve its application in this context. This article reviewed the research trends on biowaste composting and the potential application in developing countries such as Colombia. For this purpose, the technology monitoring methodology was used in databases of specialized scientific journals (period 2006 to 2017), using bibliometric tools such as RefViz® and Tlab®. The research has focused on optimizing the process through measures such as the use of amendment or support materials, strategies for reducing nitrogen losses, aerobic biodegradability studies and the development of empirical models to predict process conditions. The integration of this research in the context of developing countries can contribute to improve the application of biowaste composting.Keywords: Resource recovery; biowastes; composting; product quality; modeling. Compostaje de biorresiduos: Tendencias de investigación y pertinencia en países en desarrolloResumen Los biorresiduos son la mayor fracción de los Residuos Sólidos Municipales-RSM en países en desarrollo, siendo el compostaje una alternativa promisoria para su gestión. La implementación del compostaje en este contexto no ha sido efectiva requiriéndose estrategias para mejorar su aplicación. Este artículo analiza tendencias investigativas del compostaje de biorresiduos y presenta una reflexión crítica al respecto. Para tal efecto, emplea elementos de vigilancia tecnológica, analizando revistas científicas especializadas (periodo 2006 a 2017) y usando herramientas bibliométricas como RefViz® y Tlab®. Las investigaciones para optimizar el proceso se han enfocado en el uso de materiales de enmienda o de soporte, estrategias para la reducción en las pérdidas de nitrógeno, desarrollo de estudios de biodegradabilidad aerobia y de modelos empíricos para predecir condiciones del proceso. La integración de estas investigaciones en el contexto de países en desarrollo puede contribuir al mejoramiento de la aplicación del compostaje de biorresiduos.Palabras clave: Aprovechamiento; biorresiduos; compostaje; calidad del producto; modelado.

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“…Considering a literature review, on different waste management strategies by single or multiple types of treatment and their environmental impacts, we can conclude that most of them are using the life cycle assessment methodology [9,10]. Generally, energetically and environmentally speaking, the best treatment for packaging materials is recycling and the best one for organic waste is anaerobic digestion [11]. Recent work, on an integrated MSW system has shown that even if the SC rate is 10 times higher in Central Europe regions, the global warming potential and acidification potential don't have significant fluctuations respect to the case were SC is lower [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental assessment of waste transport and treatment: a case study

Ionescu¹,

Stefani²

2014

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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This research presents an in-depth environmental analysis of centralized versus distributed approaches on Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) when selective collection (SC) reaches high rates. The goal of this study was to assess the major qualitative and quantitative emissions (CO, CO 2 , CH 4 , H 2 S, NO x , SO 2 and Volatile Organic Compounds) resulting from waste transport and treatment. The selection of the input data was made for a MSWM real case study for the Trentino region (Italy). Two main scenarios were developed and compared from an environmental point of view, for the organic fraction of waste (OFMSW) and residual waste (RMSW) treatment on site or at distance. The first scenario considers the OFMSW treatment in the studied region, using an anaerobic digestion process with biogas and compost production or its treatment at about 120 km from the place where the waste material was produced. In the second scenario, the RMSW is designated to an incineration plant that could be placed near the studied region or could be subject pre-treated for Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) production that can be valorised in a plant located at about 170 km. In order to evaluate the waste transport emissions, the COPERT computer program was used, considering the type of vehicle, fuel, load and speed. For waste treatment the emissions by type of pollutant are also assessed. In the results, it was highlighted that the transport environmental impact is higher in the biological treatment case. The results obtained can be used for the future development of MSW management strategies offering better environmental performances.

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Life cycle assessment of a food waste composting system: environmental impact hotspots

Cited by 206 publications

References 32 publications

A life cycle assessment of Agaricus bisporus mushroom production in the USA

A life cycle assessment of Agaricus bisporus mushroom production in the USA

Compostaje de biorresiduos: Tendencias de investigación y pertinencia en países en desarrollo

Environmental assessment of waste transport and treatment: a case study

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