Lin, Haodong;
Borrion, Aiduan;
(2024)
Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of The Emerging Technology in Circular Economy Context.
Presented at: SETAC Europe 26th LCA Symposium, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Abstract
Emerging technologies can promote circular economy, while the environmental impact assessments of emerging technologies are necessary to drive the development of emerging technologies with better environmental performance. This study applied a prospective (ex-ante) consequential LCA for an emerging technology (TRL 5-6) proposed to process digestate and recover resources, e.g., biofertiliser and water. The emerging technology consists of several digestate treatment technologies, i.e. solid-liquid separation, antibiotic removal, and nutrient recovery processes. Recovered biofertiliser can replace mineral fertiliser, while recovered water can satisfy the needs of the AD plant and be exported to replace tap water for irrigation. The goal of this study was defined to explore the environmental impacts of introducing the emerging technology into a UK AD plant in 2030 when it is available at commercial scale. Four impact categories were focused on, including climate change, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, and water consumption. The results show that environmental impacts caused by the operations of the upscaled technology for the AD plant are minimal for all four impact categories studied. Meanwhile, the introduction of the technology into the AD plant can save, per tonne of digestate processed, 31.4 kg CO2eq of climate change impacts, 8.3 g Peq of freshwater eutrophication impacts, 2.1 kg SO2eq of terrestrial acidification impacts, and 0.6 m3 of water consumption impacts. This indicates that introducing the digestate treatment technology into the AD plants in 2030, when it is upscaled to the commercial level, would be beneficial for the AD industry in the UK from an environmental perspective.
| Type: | Conference item (Presentation) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of The Emerging Technology in Circular Economy Context |
| Event: | SETAC Europe 26th LCA Symposium |
| Location: | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Dates: | 21 - 23 October 2024 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://www.setac.org/discover-events/topical-even... |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | Anaerobic digestion, Prospective LCA, Consequential LCA, Circualr Economy, Biofertiliser |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10200490 |
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