Abstract
Waste management is a key environmental and socio-economic issue. Environmental concerns are encouraging the use of alternative resources and lower emissions to air, water and soil. Innovative technologies to deal with waste recovery that produce marketable bioproducts are emerging. Bioelectrochemical synthesis systems (BESs) are based on the primary principle of transforming organic waste into added-value products using microorganisms to catalyse chemical reactions. This technology is at the core of a research project called BIORARE (BIoelectrosynthesis for ORganic wAste bioREfinery), an interdisciplinary project that aims to use anaerobic digestion as a supply chain to feed a BES and produce target biomolecules. This technology needs to be driven by environmental strategies. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate the BIORARE concept based on expert opinion and prior experiments for the production of biosuccinic acid and waste management. A multidisciplinary approach based on biochemistry and process engineering expertise was used to collect the inventory data. The BES design and the two-step anaerobic digestion process have many potential impacts on air pollution or ecotoxicity-related categories. The comparison of the BIORARE concept with conventional fermentation processes and a water-fed BES technology demonstrated the environmental benefit resulting from the use of both the BES technology and a waste-based substrate as input thus supporting the BIORARE concept. Some trade-offs among the impact categories were identified but led to options to improve the concept. BES design and synergy management may improve the environmental performance of the BIORARE concept.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azapagic A (1999) Life cycle assessment and its application to process selection, design and optimisation. Chem Eng J 73:1–21
Bajracharya S, Sharma M, Mohanakrishna G, Benneton XD, Strik D, Sarma PM, Pant D (2016) An overview on emerging bioelectrochemical systems (BESs): technology for sustainable electricity, waste remediation, resource recovery, chemical production and beyond. Renew Energy 98:153–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.03.002
Boulay A-M, Bulle C, Bayart J-B, Deschênes L, Margni M (2011) Regional characterization of freshwater use in LCA: modeling direct impacts on human health. Environ Sci Technol 45:8948–8957. https://doi.org/10.1021/es1030883
Boulay A-M, Bare J, Camillis CD et al (2015) Consensus building on the development of a stress-based indicator for LCA-based impact assessment of water consumption: outcome of the expert workshops. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20:577–583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0869-8
Bretz K (2015) Succinic acid production in fed-batch fermentation of Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens using glycerol as carbon source. Chem Eng Technol 38:1659–1664. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201500015
Cao Y, Zhang R, Sun C, Cheng T, Liu Y, Xian M (2013) Fermentative succinate production: an emerging technology to replace the traditional petrochemical processes, fermentative succinate production: an emerging technology to replace the traditional petrochemical processes. BioMed Res Int BioMed Res Int 2013:e723412. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/723412
Cherubini F, Peters GP, Berntsen T, Strømman AH, Hertwich E (2011) CO2 emissions from biomass combustion for bioenergy: atmospheric decay and contribution to global warming. GCB Bioenergy 3:413–426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01102.x
Cherubini F, Strømman AH, Hertwich E (2013) Biogenic CO2 fluxes from bioenergy and climate—a response. Ecol Model 253:79–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.01.007
Cok B, Tsiropoulos I, Roes AL, Patel MK (2014) Succinic acid production derived from carbohydrates: an energy and greenhouse gas assessment of a platform chemical toward a bio-based economy. Biofuels Bioprod Biorefin 8:16–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1427
Conrado RJ, Haynes CA, Haendler BE, Toone EJ (2013) Electrofuels: a new paradigm for renewable fuels. In: Lee JW (ed) Advanced biofuels and bioproducts. Springer, New York, NY, pp 1037–1064
del Pilar Anzola Rojas M, Zaiat M, Gonzalez ER et al (2018) Effect of the electric supply interruption on a microbial electrosynthesis system converting inorganic carbon into acetate. Bioresour Technol 266:203–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.06.074
Dumas C, Basseguy R, Bergel A (2008) Microbial electrocatalysis with Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilm on stainless steel cathodes. Electrochim Acta 53:2494–2500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2007.10.018
Dunn JB, Adom F, Sather N, Han J, Snyder S (2015) Life-cycle analysis of bioproducts and their conventional counterparts in GREET. U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory
Escamilla-Alvarado C, Poggi-Varaldo HM, Ponce-Noyola MT (2017) Bioenergy and bioproducts from municipal organic waste as alternative to landfilling: a comparative life cycle assessment with prospective application to Mexico. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24:25602–25617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6939-z
Espinosa N, Laurent A, Krebs FC (2015) Ecodesign of organic photovoltaic modules from Danish and Chinese perspectives. Energy Environ Sci 8:2537–2550. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EE01763G
European Commission (2010a) International reference life cycle data system (ILCD) handbook—framework and requirements for life cycle impact assessment models and indicators. First edition. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg
European Commission (2010b) International reference life cycle data system (ILCD) handbook—general guide for life cycle assessment—detailed guidance. Publications Office, Luxembourg
European Commission (2010c) Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability. In: International reference life cycle data system (ILCD) handbook—general guide for life cycle assessment—detailed guidance. Publications Office, Luxembourg
European Commission (2014) Horizon 2020, work programme 2014–2015
European Commission (2018) Municipal waste by waste operations—Eurostat. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/env_wasmun. Accessed 23 Mar 2018
European Union (2008) Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 19 November 2008 on Waste and Repealing Certain Directives. Official Journal of the European Union, 22/11/2008
Evans G (2001) Biowaste and biological waste treatment. Routledge, London
Farahani SS, Asoodar MA (2017) Life cycle environmental impacts of bioethanol production from sugarcane molasses in Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24:22547–22556. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9909-1
Foley JM, Rozendal RA, Hertle CK, Lant PA, Rabaey K (2010) Life cycle assessment of high-rate anaerobic treatment, microbial fuel cells, and microbial electrolysis cells. Environ Sci Technol 44:3629–3637. https://doi.org/10.1021/es100125h
Fouilland E, Vasseur C, Leboulanger C (2014) Coupling algal biomass production and anaerobic digestion: production assessment of some native temperate and tropical microalgae. Biomass Bioenergy 70:564–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.08.027
Foulet A, Birot M, Sonnemann G, Deleuze H (2015) Life cycle assessment of producing emulsion-templated porous materials from Kraft black liquor – comparison of a vegetable oil and a petrochemical solvent. J Clean Prod 91:180–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.035
Francmanis E, Khabdullin A, Khabdullin A, Khabdullina Z, Khabdullina G (2016) Comparative environmental analysis of microbial electrochemical systems. Energy Procedia 95:564–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2016.09.086
Glassner DA, Elankovan P, Beacom DR, Berglund KA (1995) Purification process for succinic acid produced by fermentation. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 51–52:73–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02933412
Guest G, Cherubini F, Strømman AH (2013) Global warming potential of carbon dioxide emissions from biomass stored in the Anthroposphere and used for bioenergy at end of life. J Ind Ecol 17:20–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00507.x
Guinée JB, Gorrée M, Heijungs R, Huppes G, Kleijn R, de Koning A, Van Oers L, Wegener Sleeswijk A, Suh S, Udo de Haes HA, De Bruijn JA, Van Duin R, Huijbregts MAJ (eds) (2002) Handbook on life cycle assessment: operational guide to the ISO Standards. Series: Eco-efficiency in industry and science. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Hansen TL, Schmidt JE, Angelidaki I, Marca E, Jansen JC, Mosbæk H, Christensen TH (2004) Method for determination of methane potentials of solid organic waste. Waste Manag 24:393–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2003.09.009
Heijungs R, Guinée JB, Huppes G et al (1992) Environmental life cycle assessment of products: guide and backgrounds (part 1). CML, Leiden
Huh YS, Jun Y-S, Hong YK, Song H, Lee SY, Hong WH (2006) Effective purification of succinic acid from fermentation broth produced by Mannheimia succiniciproducens. Process Biochem 41:1461–1465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2006.01.020
ISO (2006a) ISO 14044:2006: environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines. International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland
ISO (2006b) ISO 14040:2006: environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework. International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland
Jourdin L (2015) Microbial electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide: performance enhancement and elucidation of mechanisms. The University of Queensland, St Lucia
Kootstra (2017) Direct processing of sugar beet using beta process: Chembeet WP1 and WP2. ACRRES. Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen
Lam KF, Leung CCJ, Lei HM, Lin CSK (2014) Economic feasibility of a pilot-scale fermentative succinic acid production from bakery wastes. Food Bioprod Process 92:282–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2013.09.001
LeRoy RL (1983) Industrial water electrolysis: present and future. Int J Hydrog Energy 8:401–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/0360-3199(83)90162-3
Li W-W, Yu H-Q, He Z (2014) Towards sustainable wastewater treatment by using microbial fuel cells-centered technologies. Energy Environ Sci 7:911–924. https://doi.org/10.1039/C3EE43106A
Logan BE, Rabaey K (2012) Conversion of wastes into bioelectricity and chemicals by using microbial electrochemical technologies. Science 337:686–690. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1217412
Lovley DR (2006) Microbial fuel cells: novel microbial physiologies and engineering approaches. Curr Opin Biotechnol 17:327–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2006.04.006
Luque R, Lin CSK, Du C et al (2009) Chemical transformations of succinic acid recovered from fermentation broths by a novel direct vacuum distillation-crystallisation method. Green Chem 11:193–200. https://doi.org/10.1039/B813409J
Manfredi S, Pant R (2011) Supporting environmentally sound decisions for bio-waste management: a practical guide to life cycle thinking (LCT) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Joint Research Centre—Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Luxembourg
Mankins JC (1995) Technology readiness levels - a white paper. Advanced Concepts Office, Office of Space Access and Technology, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Washington, DC
McCreery RL (2008) Advanced carbon electrode materials for molecular electrochemistry. Chem Rev 108:2646–2687. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr068076m
Mitterpach J, Hroncová E, Ladomerský J, Balco K (2017) Environmental analysis of waste foundry sand via life cycle assessment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24:3153–3162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8085-z
Morales M, Ataman M, Badr S, Linster S, Kourlimpinis I, Papadokonstantakis S, Hatzimanikatis V, Hungerbühler K (2016) Sustainability assessment of succinic acid production technologies from biomass using metabolic engineering. Energy Environ Sci 9:2794–2805. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EE00634E
Moscoviz R, de Fouchécour F, Santa-Catalina G, Bernet N, Trably E (2017) Cooperative growth of Geobacter sulfurreducens and Clostridium pasteurianum with subsequent metabolic shift in glycerol fermentation. Sci Rep 7:44334. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44334
Pandit AV, Mahadevan R (2011) In silico characterization of microbial electrosynthesis for metabolic engineering of biochemicals. Microb Cell Factories 10:76. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2859-10-76
Pant D, Singh A, Van Bogaert G, Alvarez-Gallego Y, Diels L, Vanbroekhoven K (2011) An introduction to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for sustainable energy and product generation: relevance and key aspects. Renew Sust Energ Rev 15:1305–1313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.10.005
Patel DA, Meesters K, den Uil H, de Jong E, Blok K (2012) Sustainability assessment of novel chemical processes at early stage: application to biobased processes. Energy Environ Sci 5:8430–8444. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2EE21581K
Pinazo JM, Domine ME, Parvulescu V, Petru F (2015) Sustainability metrics for succinic acid production: a comparison between biomass-based and petrochemical routes. Catal Today 239:17–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2014.05.035
Pocaznoi D, Calmet A, Etcheverry L, Erable B, Bergel A (2012) Stainless steel is a promising electrode material for anodes of microbial fuel cells. Energy Environ Sci 5:9645–9652. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2EE22429A
Pradel M, Aissani L, Villot J, Baudez J-C, Laforest V (2016) From waste to added value product: towards a paradigm shift in life cycle assessment applied to wastewater sludge—a review. J Clean Prod 131:60–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.05.076
Rabaey K, Rozendal RA (2010) Microbial electrosynthesis—revisiting the electrical route for microbial production. Nat Rev Microbiol 8:706–716. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2422
Ras M, Lardon L, Bruno S, Bernet N, Steyer J-P (2011) Experimental study on a coupled process of production and anaerobic digestion of Chlorella vulgaris. Bioresour Technol 102:200–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.06.146
Reddy MV, ElMekawy A, Pant D (2018) Bioelectrochemical synthesis of caproate through chain elongation as a complementary technology to anaerobic digestion. Biofuels Bioprod Biorefin. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1924
Richard C (2013) Intégration d’une étape de production de bioéthanol en culture mixte au sein d’une filière de traitement de déchets solides par méthanisation. AgroParisTech
Rozendal RA, Hamelers HVM, Rabaey K, Keller J, Buisman CJN (2008a) Towards practical implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment. Trends Biotechnol 26:450–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2008.04.008
Rozendal RA, Jeremiasse AW, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2008b) Hydrogen production with a microbial biocathode. Environ Sci Technol 42:629–634. https://doi.org/10.1021/es071720+
Sadhukhan J, Lloyd JR, Scott K, Premier GC, Yu EH, Curtis T, Head IM (2016) A critical review of integration analysis of microbial electrosynthesis (MES) systems with waste biorefineries for the production of biofuel and chemical from reuse of CO2. Renew Sust Energ Rev 56:116–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.015
Schäfer H, Beladi-Mousavi SM, Walder L, Wollschläger J, Kuschel O, Ichilmann S, Sadaf S, Steinhart M, Küpper K, Schneider L (2015a) Surface oxidation of stainless steel: oxygen evolution electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity. ACS Catal 5:2671–2680. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5b00221
Schäfer H, Sadaf S, Walder L, Kuepper K, Dinklage S, Wollschläger J, Schneider L, Steinhart M, Hardege J, Daum D (2015b) Stainless steel made to rust: a robust water-splitting catalyst with benchmark characteristics. Energy Environ Sci 8:2685–2697. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EE01601K
Srikanth S, Kumar M, Singh MP, Das BP (2016) Bioelectro chemical systems: a sustainable and potential platform for treating waste. Procedia Environ Sci 35:853–859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2016.07.102
Sun M, Zhai L-F, Li W-W, Yu H-Q (2016) Harvest and utilization of chemical energy in wastes by microbial fuel cells. Chem Soc Rev 45:2847–2870. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CS00903K
Sutton MD, Doran-Peterson JB (2001) Fermentation of sugarbeet pulp for ethanol production using bioengineered Klebsiella oxytoca strain P2. J Sugarbeet Res 38:19–34. https://doi.org/10.5274/jsbr.38.1.19
Tang X, Madronich S, Wallington T, Calamari D (1998) Changes in tropospheric composition and air quality. J Photochem Photobiol B 46:83–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1011-1344(98)00187-0
Thinkstep (2016) GaBi software-system and database for the life cycle engineering. Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany
U.S. Department of Energy (2010) Environmental assessment for the Myriant succinic acid biorefinery (MYSAB), Lake Providence, Louisiana. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Golden, Colorado
Wang X, Cheng S, Feng Y, Merrill MD, Saito T, Logan EL (2009) Use of carbon mesh anodes and the effect of different pretreatment methods on power production in microbial fuel cells. Environ Sci Technol 43:6870–6874. https://doi.org/10.1021/es900997w
Weastra (2012) Determination of market potential for selected platform chemicals—EU project BioConSept. Weastra, s.r.o
Wrana N, Sparling R, Cicek N, Levin DB (2010) Hydrogen gas production in a microbial electrolysis cell by electrohydrogenesis. J Clean Prod 18(Supplement 1):S105–S111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.06.018
Yadav P, Samadder SR (2018) Environmental impact assessment of municipal solid waste management options using life cycle assessment: a case study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:838–854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0439-7
Yan Q, Zhao M, Miao H, Ruan W, Song R (2010) Coupling of the hydrogen and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production through anaerobic digestion from Taihu blue algae. Bioresour Technol 101:4508–4512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.01.073
Yang N, Waldvogel SR, Jiang X (2016) Electrochemistry of carbon dioxide on carbon electrodes. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 8:28357–28371. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b09825
Yu F, Li F, Sun L (2016) Stainless steel as an efficient electrocatalyst for water oxidation in alkaline solution. Int J Hydrog Energy 41:5230–5233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.01.108
Zabed H, Faruq G, Sahu JN, Airun MS, Hashim R, Boyce AN (2014) Bioethanol production from fermentable sugar juice, bioethanol production from fermentable sugar juice. Sci World J Sci World J 2014:e957102. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/957102
Zaybak Z, Pisciotta JM, Tokash JC, Logan BE (2013) Enhanced start-up of anaerobic facultatively autotrophic biocathodes in bioelectrochemical systems. J Biotechnol 168:478–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2013.10.001
Zhang T, Nie H, Bain TS, Lu H, Cui M, Snoeyenbos-West OL, Franks AE, Nevin KP, Russell TP, Lovley DR (2013) Improved cathode materials for microbial electrosynthesis. Energy Env Sci 6:217–224. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2EE23350A
Zhang Q, Hu J, Lee D-J (2016) Biogas from anaerobic digestion processes: research updates. Renew Energy 98:108–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.02.029
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the French National Research Agency for supporting the BIORARE project (ANR-10-BTBR-02).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Loubet
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Foulet, A., Bouchez, T., Quéméner, E.DL. et al. Life cycle assessment of a bioelectrochemical system as a new technological platform for biosuccinic acid production from waste. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 36485–36502 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3530-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3530-9