Power generation from slaughterhouse waste materials. An emergy accounting assessment

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:223

Article

Santagata, Remo¹  Viglia, Silvio^1,2  Fiorentino, Gabriella¹  Liu, Gengyuan^3,4  Ripa, Maddalena⁵ 

[1] Parthenope Univ Naples, Dept Sci & Technol, Naples, Italy

[2] Univ Florida, Dept Environm Engn Sci, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA

[3] Beijing Normal Univ, Sch Environm, State Key Joint Lab Environm Simulat & Pollut Con, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China

[4] Beijing Engn Res Ctr Watershed Environm Restorat, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China

[5] Autonomous Univ Barcelona UAB, Inst Environm Sci & Technol ICTA, Bellaterra 08193, Spain

关键词: Waste management;    Animal by-products;    Resource recovery;    Emergy accounting;    Electricity generation;    Bio-refinery;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.148

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The linear path extraction-production-consumption-waste, imposed by humans to natural ecosystems, where all material flows are instead circular, has become unsustainable. Understanding the potential value of some of these by-products, in order to exploit them effectively in a biorefinery perspective, may help overcoming resource shortages and decrease environmental impacts. This study investigates energy and resource restoration from animal by-products. The slaughterhouse waste undergoes a rendering process to separate residual meal and fat. The latter is combusted in a co-generation plant to produce electricity and heat. The process is carefully assessed using Emergy Accounting approach with the aim of evaluating benefits and environmental load of the process considering the advantages achieved compared with the demand for ecosystem services and natural capital depletion. Moreover, the case aims at exploring three different methodological assumptions referring to the upstream burdens carried by the waste management system, proposing a modified exergy-based allocation rule. The electricity generated shows performances in terms of Unit Emergy Values ranging between 2.7E+05 sej/J, 2.2E+06 seja and 3.1E+07 sej/J among the different cases investigated, comparable to power from fossil fuels and renewables sources, and it provides an environmentally sound alternative to conventional waste disposal. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free