Post-treatment and agricultural reuse of digestate from low-tech digesters: A comparative life cycle assessment.

Autor: Ziegler-Rodriguez K; GEMMA - Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC), c/ Jordi Girona, 1-3, Building D1, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain., Josa I; Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London, Chadwick building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK., Castro L; Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM), Universidad Industrial de 7 Santander, Carrera 27, Calle 9, Bucaramanga, Colombia., Escalante H; Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM), Universidad Industrial de 7 Santander, Carrera 27, Calle 9, Bucaramanga, Colombia., Garfí M; GEMMA - Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC), c/ Jordi Girona, 1-3, Building D1, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: marianna.garfi@upc.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2023 Oct 10; Vol. 894, pp. 164992. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 21.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164992
Abstrakt: The objective of this study was to analyse the environmental impacts of the post-treatment and agricultural reuse of digestate from a low-tech digester implemented in a small-scale farm in Colombia using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The scenarios considered were: 1) digestate post-treatment with a sand filter and its reuse in agriculture; 2) digestate post-treatment with a vermifilter and the production of compost, and 3) untreated digestate directly applied on the agricultural land (current scenario). Moreover, an economic analysis was also addressed. Results showed that the vermifilter was the most environmentally friendly scenario. It considerably reduced (by up to 9 times) the environmental impacts compared to the other scenarios. From an economic point of view, the implementation of the vermifilter generated an increase in farmers' income (up to 70 $ year -1 ) since it avoids buying synthetic fertilizer. Finally, the implementation of a vermifilter for the post-treatment and agricultural reuse of digestate from low-tech digesters showed to have both environmental and economic benefits. This technology can help to promote the circular bioeconomy in small-scale farms, reducing poverty and improving the standard of living in rural areas.
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
Externí odkaz: