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Comparison of ecological footprint for biobased PHA production from animal residues utilizing different energy resources

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Abstract

Realizing a sustainable development of our planet requires a reduction of waste production, harmful emissions, and higher energy efficiency as well as utilization of renewable energy sources. One pathway to this end is the design of sustainable biorefinery concepts. Utilizing waste streams as raw material is gaining great importance in this respect. This reduces environmental burden and may at the same time contribute to economic performance of biorefineries. This paper investigates the utilization of slaughtering waste to produce biodegradable polyesters, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), via bioconversion. PHA are the target product while production of high quality biodiesel along with meat and bone meal (MBM) as by-products improves the economic performance of the process. The paper focuses on ecological comparison of different production scenarios and the effect of geographical location of production plants taking different energy production technologies and resources into account; ecological footprint evaluation using Sustainable Process Index methodology was applied. Keeping in mind that the carbon source for PHA production is produced from waste by energy intensive rendering process, the effect of available energy mixes in different countries becomes significant. Ecological footprint results from the current study show a bandwidth from 372,950 to 956,060 m2/t PHA production, depending on the energy mix used in the process which is compared to 2,508,409 m2/t for low density polyethylene.

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Abbreviations

AT:

Austria

A R :

Area for resources

A E :

Area for energy consumption

A I :

Area for installations

A S :

Area for services

A D :

Area for dissipation

A tot :

Total area

a tot = A tot/N P :

Total area per service unit

CN:

Canada

DE:

Germany

DK:

Denmark

IT:

Italy

FR:

France

NO:

Norway

PL:

Poland

USA:

United States of America

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the European Commission by granting the project “Biotechnological conversion of carbon containing wastes for eco-efficient production of high added value products”, Acronym ANIMPOL (Contract No: 245084).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Process and Particle Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 13/3, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Khurram Shahzad, Karl-Heinz Kettl, Michaela Titz, Hans Schnitzer & Michael Narodoslawsky

  2. Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Martin Koller

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  1. Khurram Shahzad
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  2. Karl-Heinz Kettl
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  3. Michaela Titz
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  4. Martin Koller
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  5. Hans Schnitzer
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  6. Michael Narodoslawsky
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Correspondence to Khurram Shahzad.

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Shahzad, K., Kettl, KH., Titz, M. et al. Comparison of ecological footprint for biobased PHA production from animal residues utilizing different energy resources. Clean Techn Environ Policy 15, 525–536 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-013-0608-4

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