Environmental and economic sustainability of the nitrogen recovery paradigm: Evidence from a structured literature review

Spiller, Marc; Moretti, Michele; Paepe, Jolien De; Vlaeminck, Siegfried

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106406

Cited by 36 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…ten times more power than compressing the additional volumes of nitrogen present in the air (respectively 3.5 kWh.kg O2 -1 ; ecoinvent, 2022; and 0.32 kWh.kg O2 -1 ; see section SI.4.6). The option to recover nitrogen from AD's digestate was not assessed for three reasons: digestate is a constrained resource (thus not available on demand), unravelling the best N source to supply bioprocesses remains an open research question (Matassa et al, 2023;Spiller et al, 2022), and nally, only advanced and multiple risk-clearing barriers N recovery pathways would unlock the safe reuse of waste-based N for food and feed services (see risk mitigation criteria in section 2.1.3.). These recovery technologies are currently immature (Khoshnevisan et al, 2022), preventing robust modeling.…”

Section: Microbial Proteins Production From Residual-based Gases: For...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste reintroduced in the kitchen: life cycles inventories of representative waste-to-nutrition pathways

Javourez,

Tituta-Barna,

Hamelin

2024

Preprint

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Waste recovery technologies targeting the formulation of edible ingredients such as insects, microorganisms, or proteins extracts, are increasingly promoted to mitigate global environmental impacts. Yet, many conversion pathways exist, and little is known about the plausibility, the implications, and the environmental relevance of deploying them: a comparative modeling approach is missing. To this end, we reviewed the available data and literature documenting these emerging biorefineries and compiled it into six harmonized life cycle inventory (LCI) models estimating the forecasted performances of 16 representative “waste-to-nutrition” pathways in function of 18 input stream characteristics and 293 technological parameters. Illustrated on eleven case studies, the results quantify the untapped potential of transforming waste into novel food and feed and unravel the intrinsic trade-offs between their energy intensity, their yield and the biochemical composition of input streams. We show that several scenarios are possible to achieve France’s protein feed autonomy by scaling and combining different waste-to-nutrition pathways, but that each scenario would lead to different consequences on energy systems and on bioresources’ mobilization requirements. As provided, the LCI models capture the implications associated with these waste recovery technologies and are ready to support their prospective life cycle assessment.

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Section: Microbial Proteins Production From Residual-based Gases: For...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste reintroduced in the kitchen: life cycles inventories of representative waste-to-nutrition pathways

Javourez,

Tituta-Barna,

Hamelin

2024

Preprint

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“…Beyond that, in SFAs a further distinction into diffuse emissions and point source emissions in a replicable manner will be of added value. The reason for this is that recovery technologies are likely applied to point source emissions, rather than diffuse emissions of N and P (Spiller et al, 2022), and therefore this distinction can enable the assessment of indicators relevant to circular nutrient management. To the knowledge of the authors, there is currently no study that classifies flows of N and P into more detail than by-products.…”

Section: Capcapitamentioning

confidence: 99%

Detailed nitrogen and phosphorus flow analysis, nutrient use efficiency and circularity in the agri-food system of a livestock-intensive region

Vingerhoets

Spiller

Backer

et al. 2023

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…A recent systematic literature survey focusing on the sustainability of nitrogen recovery from waste showed that domestic wastewater is the most explored stream for this purpose [ 35 ]. This is due to the volume of the stream and the stringent discharge and emission limits imposed upon wastewater treatment plants.…”

Section: Nitrogen Recovery Waste Streamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane Technologies for Nitrogen Recovery from Waste Streams: Scientometrics and Technical Analysis

et al. 2022

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The concerns regarding the reactive nitrogen levels exceeding the planetary limits are well documented in the literature. A large portion of anthropogenic nitrogen ends in wastewater. Nitrogen removal in typical wastewater treatment processes consumes a considerable amount of energy. Nitrogen recovery can help in saving energy and meeting the regulatory discharge limits. This has motivated researchers and industry professionals alike to devise effective nitrogen recovery systems. Membrane technologies form a fundamental part of these systems. This work presents a thorough overview of the subject using scientometric analysis and presents an evaluation of membrane technologies guided by literature findings. The focus of nitrogen recovery research has shifted over time from nutrient concentration to the production of marketable products using improved membrane materials and designs. A practical approach for selecting hybrid systems based on the recovery goals has been proposed. A comparison between membrane technologies in terms of energy requirements, recovery efficiency, and process scale showed that gas permeable membrane (GPM) and its combination with other technologies are the most promising recovery techniques and they merit further industry attention and investment. Recommendations for potential future search trends based on industry and end users’ needs have also been proposed.

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Environmental and economic sustainability of the nitrogen recovery paradigm: Evidence from a structured literature review

Cited by 36 publications

References 87 publications

Waste reintroduced in the kitchen: life cycles inventories of representative waste-to-nutrition pathways

Waste reintroduced in the kitchen: life cycles inventories of representative waste-to-nutrition pathways

Detailed nitrogen and phosphorus flow analysis, nutrient use efficiency and circularity in the agri-food system of a livestock-intensive region

Membrane Technologies for Nitrogen Recovery from Waste Streams: Scientometrics and Technical Analysis

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