title: Comparison based on environmental effects of nitrogen management techniques in a manure digestate case study.
abstract: Due to climate issues and favourable energy market, biogas is spreading as a manure management technique. Digestate is rich in nutrient and has to be handled in order to respect the 'nitrate directive' that limits nitrogen field application in areas defined as vulnerable. In this study, we compared different nitrogen management scenarios: a non-treatment option, a biological short-cut nitrification, a complete autotrophic process (anammox) and ammonia stripping from membrane filtration concentrate. The environmental effect comparison was obtained with 'Cross media effects analysis' and life cycle assessment (LCA). The results were different in some aspects, especially the impacts on eutrophication. According to cross media, the best process is DENO 2, while LCA shows similar impacts for all techniques and the best solution would be the no-treatment option. The main reason to adopt a digestate treatment technique is the lack of area for a correct disposal. If LCA eutrophication results are multiplied with the hectares necessary for each technology, a result similar to that of cross media is obtained.
authors.affiliation: a DICA Environmental Section , Politecnico di Milano , Milano Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milan 20133 , Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Paccanelli
authors.affiliation: a DICA Environmental Section , Politecnico di Milano , Milano Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milan 20133 , Italy.
authors.forename: Aronne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teli
authors.affiliation: a DICA Environmental Section , Politecnico di Milano , Milano Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milan 20133 , Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scaglione
authors.affiliation: b Cremona Campus , Politecnico di Milano , Cremona via Sesto 39/41, 26100 , Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Insabato
authors.affiliation: b Cremona Campus , Politecnico di Milano , Cremona via Sesto 39/41, 26100 , Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casula
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis*; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008372:Manure; D009584:Nitrogen; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: LCA; N management; cross media; digestate; impacts