Abstract
Production of volatile fatty acids from food waste and lignocellulosic materials has potential to avoid emissions from their production from petrochemicals and provide valuable feedstocks. Techno-economic and life cycle assessments of using food waste and grass to produce volatile fatty acids through anaerobic digestion have been conducted. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for both assessments were done to enable a robust forecast of key-aspects of the technology deployment at industrial scale. Results show low environmental impact of volatile fatty acid with food wastes being the most beneficial feedstock with global warming potential varying from −0.21 to 0.01 CO2 eq./kg of product. Food wastes had the greatest economic benefit with a breakeven selling price of 1.11–1.94 GBP/kg (1.22–2.33 USD) of volatile fatty acids in the product solution determined through sensitivity analysis. Anaerobic digestion of wastes is therefore a promising alternative to traditional volatile fatty acid production routes, providing economic and environmental benefits.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 129726 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Bioresource Technology |
Volume | 388 |
Early online date | 9 Sept 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) for providing necessary resources.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
Funding
The authors would like to thank Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) for providing necessary resources.
Keywords
- Consequential system
- Mass balance preservation
- Sensitivity analysis
- Technology learning curves
- Uncertainty analysis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Waste Management and Disposal