title: Environmental assessment of digestate treatment technologies using LCA methodology.
abstract: The production of biogas from energy crops, organic waste and manure has augmented considerably the amounts of digestate available in Flanders. This has pushed authorities to steadily introduce legislative changes to promote its use as a fertilising agent. There is limited arable land in Flanders, which entails that digestate has to compete with animal manure to be spread. This forces many anaerobic digestion plants to further treat digestate in such a way that it can either be exported or the nitrogen be removed. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of these treatment options is still widely unknown, as well as the influence of these impacts on the sustainability of Flemish anaerobic digestion plants in comparison to other regions where spreading of raw digestate is allowed. Despite important economic aspects that must be considered, the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is suggested in this study to identify the environmental impacts of spreading digestate directly as compared to four different treatment technologies. Results suggest relevant environmental gains when the digestate mix is treated using the examined conversion technologies prior to spreading, although important trade-offs between impact categories were observed and discussed. The promising results of digestate conversion technologies suggest that further LCA analyses should be performed to delve into, for instance, the appropriateness to shift to nutrient recovery technologies rather than digestate conversion treatments.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, 4362 Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg; Peruvian LCA Network, Department of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Avenida Universitaria 1801, San Miguel 32, Lima, Peru; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: ian.vasquez@pucp.pe.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Rowe
authors.affiliation: Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, 4362 Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Golkowska
authors.affiliation: Flemish Coordination Centre for Manure Processing, Abdijbekestraat 9, 8200 Brugge, Belgium.
authors.forename: Viooltje
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lebuf
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical and Applied Ecochemistry, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vaneeckhaute
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical and Applied Ecochemistry, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Evi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Michels
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical and Applied Ecochemistry, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meers
authors.affiliation: Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, 4362 Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benetto
authors.affiliation: Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, 4362 Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koster
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry; D001530:Belgium; D056804:Biofuels; D057231:Climate Change; D004777:Environment; D005068:Eutrophication; D008372:Manure; D009995:Osmosis; D010126:Ozone; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil; D013672:Technology / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil; D010126:Ozone; D000641:Ammonia
keywords: Ammonia; Digestate spreading; Digestate treatment; Dried digestate; Flanders; Life Cycle Assessment