Environmental implications of anaerobic digestion for manure management in dairy farms in Mexico: a life cycle perspective

Environmental Technology
Pasiano Rivas-GarcíaAlejandro Estrada-Baltazar

Abstract

The environmental profile of milk production in Mexico was analysed for three manure management scenarios: fertilization (F), anaerobic digestion (AD) and enhanced anaerobic digestion (EAD). The study used the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique, considering a 'cradle-to-gate' approach. The assessment model was constructed using SimaPro LCA software, and the life cycle impact assessment was performed according to the ReCiPe method. Dairy farms with AD and EAD scenarios were found to exhibit, respectively, 12% and 27% less greenhouse gas emissions, 58% and 31% less terrestrial acidification, and 3% and 18% less freshwater eutrophication than the F scenario. A different trend was observed in the damage to resource availability indicator, as the F scenario presented 6% and 22% less damage than the EAD and AD scenarios, respectively. The magnitude of environmental damage from milk production in the three dairy manure management scenarios, using a general single score indicator, was 0.118, 0.107 and 0.081 Pt/L of milk for the F, AD and EAD scenarios, respectively. These results indicate that manure management systems with anaerobic digestion can improve the environmental profile of each litre of milk produced.

References

Jun 27, 2007·Water Science and Technology : a Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research·J B K Park, R J Craggs
May 20, 2008·Bioresource Technology·Keri B CantrellPatrick G Hunt
Nov 4, 2008·Water Research·Kanokwan Boe, Irini Angelidaki
Feb 26, 2011·Environmental Science & Technology·Martin C Heller, Gregory A Keoleian

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Citations

Mar 16, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Vempalli Sudharsan VarmaGreg Thoma

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Software Mentioned

SimaPro
ReCiPe
LACTODATA

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