Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment
Anaerobic digestion is a common method for managing liquid manure and other biomasses, generating biogas as a renewable energy source. The resulting digestate can be processed into organic fertilizers to enhance nutrient recycling, but its environmental impact warrants investigation. In this study,...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8589 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1846166847124144128 |
|---|---|
| author | Xiaoyi Meng Marie Trydeman Knudsen Søren O Petersen Henrik B Møller Fatemeh Hashemi |
| author_facet | Xiaoyi Meng Marie Trydeman Knudsen Søren O Petersen Henrik B Møller Fatemeh Hashemi |
| author_sort | Xiaoyi Meng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Anaerobic digestion is a common method for managing liquid manure and other biomasses, generating biogas as a renewable energy source. The resulting digestate can be processed into organic fertilizers to enhance nutrient recycling, but its environmental impact warrants investigation. In this study, a life cycle assessment was conducted to examine the impact of fertilizers derived from cattle slurry and grass–clover co-digestion on global warming (measured in CO _2 equivalents) compared to untreated cattle slurry (CA). The different treatments analyzed include CA, digestate, liquid fractions (LFs) from digestate separation, and an enriched liquid nitrogen–sulfur product derived from post-processing of biogas and drying of the solid fraction. The functional units of this study were 100 kg of total nitrogen in the final organic fertilizer (FU1) with the cradle-to-processing gate boundary, and the harvesting of 1 ton of spring barley dry matter (FU2) with the cradle-to-field application boundary. The carbon footprint ranged from 24% to 49% of the baseline scenario for FU1, and from −6% to 177% of the baseline scenario for FU2. The main contributors to the carbon footprint of fertilizers included greenhouse gas emissions from storage and field application. However, biogas production from anaerobic digestion, together with the concurrent mitigation of CH _4 emissions during storage, contributed most to a reduction in the overall global warming potential associated with anaerobic digestate and its LF. This study showed large climate prospects in replacing untreated slurry as organic fertilizer with alternatives resulting from its anaerobic digestion and post-treatment. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b2ae992b6b58415fb7621a14e4e4be06 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-b2ae992b6b58415fb7621a14e4e4be062024-11-15T08:04:01ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262024-01-01191212405010.1088/1748-9326/ad8589Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessmentXiaoyi Meng0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0550-3478Marie Trydeman Knudsen1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7905-0382Søren O Petersen2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7524-6695Henrik B Møller3Fatemeh Hashemi4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4756-9339Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University , Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark; Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for climate change (iCLIMATE) , Blichers Alle 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkDepartment of Agroecology, Aarhus University , Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark; Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for climate change (iCLIMATE) , Blichers Alle 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkDepartment of Agroecology, Aarhus University , Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkBiological and chemical Engineering, Aarhus University , Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkDepartment of Agroecology, Aarhus University , Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark; Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for climate change (iCLIMATE) , Blichers Alle 20, 8830 Tjele, DenmarkAnaerobic digestion is a common method for managing liquid manure and other biomasses, generating biogas as a renewable energy source. The resulting digestate can be processed into organic fertilizers to enhance nutrient recycling, but its environmental impact warrants investigation. In this study, a life cycle assessment was conducted to examine the impact of fertilizers derived from cattle slurry and grass–clover co-digestion on global warming (measured in CO _2 equivalents) compared to untreated cattle slurry (CA). The different treatments analyzed include CA, digestate, liquid fractions (LFs) from digestate separation, and an enriched liquid nitrogen–sulfur product derived from post-processing of biogas and drying of the solid fraction. The functional units of this study were 100 kg of total nitrogen in the final organic fertilizer (FU1) with the cradle-to-processing gate boundary, and the harvesting of 1 ton of spring barley dry matter (FU2) with the cradle-to-field application boundary. The carbon footprint ranged from 24% to 49% of the baseline scenario for FU1, and from −6% to 177% of the baseline scenario for FU2. The main contributors to the carbon footprint of fertilizers included greenhouse gas emissions from storage and field application. However, biogas production from anaerobic digestion, together with the concurrent mitigation of CH _4 emissions during storage, contributed most to a reduction in the overall global warming potential associated with anaerobic digestate and its LF. This study showed large climate prospects in replacing untreated slurry as organic fertilizer with alternatives resulting from its anaerobic digestion and post-treatment.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8589life cycle assessmentcattle slurrygrass–cloveranaerobic digestionorganic farminggreenhouse gas emission |
| spellingShingle | Xiaoyi Meng Marie Trydeman Knudsen Søren O Petersen Henrik B Møller Fatemeh Hashemi Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment Environmental Research Letters life cycle assessment cattle slurry grass–clover anaerobic digestion organic farming greenhouse gas emission |
| title | Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| title_full | Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| title_fullStr | Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| title_short | Climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| title_sort | climate impact of alternative organic fertilizers using life cycle assessment |
| topic | life cycle assessment cattle slurry grass–clover anaerobic digestion organic farming greenhouse gas emission |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8589 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xiaoyimeng climateimpactofalternativeorganicfertilizersusinglifecycleassessment AT marietrydemanknudsen climateimpactofalternativeorganicfertilizersusinglifecycleassessment AT sørenopetersen climateimpactofalternativeorganicfertilizersusinglifecycleassessment AT henrikbmøller climateimpactofalternativeorganicfertilizersusinglifecycleassessment AT fatemehhashemi climateimpactofalternativeorganicfertilizersusinglifecycleassessment |