Life cycle assessment (LCA) and Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of tilapia-basil aquaponics

Abstract

Aquaponics is the system combining hydroponic and aquaculture, in which fish and plants are raised together, and they can be beneficial from each other as well as to each other. When the system is maintained properly and is in a balance status, aquaponics will mimic the natural ecosystem, use much less water than traditional aquaculture, and have almost no effluent. As a result, it is thought more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In this study, both Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) of a tilapia and basil aquaponic system were conducted. Three scales, including a truly running system, pilot scale, and commercial scale of aquaponics were considered and analyzed. This study provided environmental impacts and profitability for operating aquaponics in the Midwest of U.S. It also showed that the operating scale and basil price had obvious effect on profits. When the scale was large enough, such as with the grow bed area of 75.6 m 2 and when the basil price equals to or is great than $60/kg, operating aquaponics was profitable. KeywordsAquaponics, Life cycle assessment (LCA), Techno-economic analysis (TEA), Tilapia, Basil, Greenhouse gas emission, cost, profit 1.IntroductionThe term sustainable agriculture was explained as integrated systems of combing plant and animal production using ecologic applications. The long term goals of sustainable agriculture include:1) meeting human food needs; be environmentally friendly; 2) making full use of nonrenewable resources; 3) sustaining both economy and ecology; 4) improving life quality for not only farmers, but for the community and the society (NALC, 1990).Aquaponics is the system combining hydroponic and aquaculture, in which aquatic animals and plants are raisedThe authors are solely responsible for the content of this meeting presentation. The presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and its printing and distribution does not constitute an endorsement of views which may be expressed. Meeting presentations are not subject to the formal peer review process by ASABE editorial committees; therefore, they are not to be presented as refereed publications. together, and is considered as a mutually beneficial system (Love et al, 2014). Hydroponic crop production is a technology that plant roots grow in nutrient solution instead of soil, with or without other mechanical support (Jensen, 1997). Due to the non-soil culture of plants, aquaponics on some extent involves much less pathogens than traditional agriculture (Lacheta et al, 2010). The aquatic waste can be used as fertilizer for plants, and biofilters can remove other toxic components to maintain proper living environment for fish. When the system is maintained properly and in a balanced status, aquaponics will mimic the natural ecosystem, use much less water than traditional aquaculture, and have minimal effluent, as a result, it is thought environmental friendly and as a sustainab...

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“…Higher electricity consumption was calculated as 162.10 kWh/kg basil/year by Xie and Rosentrater (2015), who conducted a study on life cycle assessment and technoeconomic analysis of tilapia-basil aquaponics.…”

Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions From a Pilot-Scale Aquaponics System

“…We also hypothesized that suspended solids and temperature would drive methane production given their central role in anaerobic digestion processes (Lohani and Havukainen, 2018) and that nitrate levels and temperature would drive N 2 O production (Kamp et al, 1998). The GHG data collected in this study will support environmental assessments of aquaponics, including life cycle assessments (LCAs) that, to date, have only focused on upstream GHG emissions (e.g., electricity and feed production as obtained from published databases) while omitting direct facility-specific emissions (Ghamkhar et al, 2020;Love et al, 2015;Xie and Rosentrater, 2015).…”

Mass-Balance Process Model of a Decoupled Aquaponics System

“…Aquaponics has recently grown in popularity due to its intensive production of fish and plant crops in a relatively small space and its perception of sustainability (Love et al, 2014;Palma Lampreia Dos Santos, 2018). In some cases, aquaponics has also shown promise as an economically competitive approach (Xie and Rosentrater, 2015). However, to maximize both the economic and environmental performance of aquaponics, it is important to understand the fate and flow of nutrients in these systems to ensure efficient use.…”