Life cycle assessment of a portable assembly biogas unit used for treating food, kitchen and landscape wastes

Abstract

The biogas unit under investigation is a specially designed portable assembly biogas unit and is sought to be widespread and commonly used in Egypt by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA). This unit is able to anaerobically treat different types of organic wastes, which are: food waste, kitchen waste, and waste from landscape. The main objective of this study is to perform an environmental impact evaluation of the implementation of this biogas unit. The specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of using the produced biogas from the unit for electricity and heat generation were calculated, where the methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied. The results show the GHG emissions for each component of the biogas unit and each process within the biogas unit calculated in kg CO₂ equivalent per MJ electricity on year basis. It was concluded that the manufacturing of the portable assembly biogas unit causes the highest greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, the operation of the biogas unit causes the lowest greenhouse gas emissions.