Carbon accounting of negative emissions technologies integrated in the life cycle of spirulina supplements.

Autor: Fernández-Ríos A; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain., Butnar I; Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London, Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN, UK., Margallo M; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain., Laso J; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain., Borrion A; Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6DE, UK., Aldaco R; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: ruben.aldaco@unican.es.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2023 Sep 10; Vol. 890, pp. 164362. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 May 23.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164362
Abstrakt: Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are considered essential to accomplish the Paris Agreement targets. Given the important contribution of the food sector to climate change, this study aims to investigate the role of two carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies in decarbonizing the production of spirulina, an algae product commonly consumed for its nutritional characteristics. The proposed scenarios considered the replacement of synthetic food-grade CO 2 in Arthrospira platensis cultivation (BAU scenario) with CO 2 from beer fermentation (BRW) and CO 2 from DACC (direct air carbon capture) (SDACC), representing two alternatives with great potential in the short and medium-long term, respectively. The methodology follows the Life Cycle Assessment guidelines, considering a cradle-to-gate scope and a functional unit equivalent to the annual production of spirulina in a Spanish artisanal plant. Results showed a better environmental performance of both CCU scenarios as compared to BAU, reaching a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 52 % in BRW and of 46 % in SDACC. Although the brewery CCU offers a deeper carbon mitigation of spirulina production, the process cannot reach net zero GHG emissions due to residual burdens across the supply chain. In comparison, the DACC unit could potentially supply both the CO 2 needed in spirulina production and work as a CDR to compensate residual emissions, which opens the door for further research on its technical and economic feasibility in the food sector.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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