Environmental and economic analysis of power generation in a thermophilic biogas plant

The Science of the Total Environment
D RuizA Domínguez

Abstract

This paper investigates the environmental and economic performance of the power production from biogas using Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Cost Benefit Analysis methodologies. The analysis is based on a commercial thermophilic biogas plant located in Spain where is installed a Combined Heat and Power system that produces electricity that is sold to the grid. Power generation has been assumed as the only function of the biogas system, expanding the system boundaries to include the additional function related to the end-of-life management of the biowastes. Thus environmental burdens from the conventional management of residues were calculated separately and subtracted. The base scenario involves using agri-food waste, sewage sludge and pig/cow manure as substrates. This situation is compared against an alternative scenario where the production of synthetic fertilizer is surrogated by the digestate. The results have shown that the most impacting activities in all impacts categories of power production are primarily attributable to the operation and maintenance of the biogas plant except for water resource depletion and climate change. The avoided emissions associated with the conventional management of pig/cow manu...Continue Reading

Citations

Aug 23, 2019·Water Environment Research : a Research Publication of the Water Environment Federation·Kari Fitzmorris Brisolara, John Bourgeois
Nov 7, 2019·Waste Management·Lisbet Mailin López GonzálezOsvaldo Romero Romero
Nov 4, 2020·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Francesco Di MariaClaudia Zadra

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Biofuels (ASM)

Biofuels are produced through contemporary processes from biomass rather than geological processes involved in fossil fuel formation. Examples include biodiesel, green diesel, biogas, etc. Discover the latest research on biofuels in this feed.

Related Papers

Water Science and Technology : a Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research
E Friedrich
Water Science and Technology : a Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research
Nitin Kumar SinghAbsar Ahmad Kazmi
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Alessandra FusiAdisa Azapagic
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved