Environmental degradation assessment of biodiesel production using life cycle analysis

The global transportation sector is one of the major fuel consumers and contributes directly to greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reduce the environmental burden of fuel usage, new diesel blending formulations that consist of biofuels were developed. The objective of the study is to assess the environmental performance of the new diesel blending formulations compared to the existing diesel blending formulation (B5). The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been used to assess the environmental performance of the blending formulation. New weighting values are also developed by using an analytical hierarchy process to support the study within Malaysia’s context. In term of LCA result within midpoint categories, Blending 5 has shown the most potential compared to other fuels including B5 blending due to better environmental performance in most categories except for ozone depletion and urban land occupation impacts. In the endpoint categories, for Malaysia’s context; Blending 5 has shown better environmental performance as compared to B5 blending with each scoring 9.63E-5 point and 1.00E- 4 point, respectively. The result is found to be consistent with other weighting methods. In developing new weighting values, this study suggests there is no consensus in term of importance between regional and global impact categories. This is visualized in the individualist perspective where both global and regional impacts were scored most importance but higher regional impact scored in egalitarian and hierarchist perspectives. In conclusion, Blending 5 has scored the least weighting values as compared to other diesel blending formulations including B5 thus indicating its potential as an alternative to the existing diesel blending formulation

Life cycle assessment analyzing with gabi software for food waste management using windrow and hybrid composting technologies

The use of composting technologies to treat food waste (FW) now represents an environmentally friendly form of waste treatment, in which organic matter can decompose biologically. However, the damaging emissions of composting technologies for FW treatment vary, thus a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is often used to certify the quality of the decision-making process. This study quantifies and compares the environmental impact of two scenarios in Malaysia: windrow and hybrid composting (windrow integrated with a landfill) technologies. The scenario modeling was performed via GaBi v6.0 software using 1 ton of pre-treated FW as a functional unit, with the analysis based on the ReCiPe (H) v1.07 characterization method. The midpoint results revealed that windrow composting technology has a lower environmental impact and is an environmentally friendly option compared to hybrid technology. Treating FW in a windrow scenario has relatively low power requirements for operation with the added advantageous properties of compost production, and a substantial reduction in the distances transferred by the road. The hybrid scenario had the largest negative environmental impact in all categories, such as climate change (1.45E+03 kg CO2 eq), and ozone depletion (4.39E-09kg CFC-11 eq) because of the energy-intensive waste collection and treatment activities it needs, and with no landfill gas filtration. Finally, based on the single score synthesis, windrow is considered as an appropriate treatment with the avoidance of Resource Depletion (6.61E+02 Pt). This study provides valuable insights for policy-making groups to help predict the environmentally preferred choice of FW management technologies in a particular area, resulting in improved environmental management sustainability

Inventory analyses of dry and wet anaerobic digestion technologies for food waste management

Dry anaerobic digestion (AD) has grown in popularity in recent years as an environmentally friendly form of food waste (FW) treatment. However, when compared to the wet AD, there appears to be a scarcity of information on environmental inventory evaluation. Therefore, the study aims to assess the life cycle inventory (LCI) of FW treatment in Malaysia through dry and wet AD plants and landfills. LCI entails identifying and quantifying all of the resources required for waste treatment, such as electricity, water, raw materials, and processed materials. In this study, all contaminants discharged into the atmosphere, including pollutant emissions into the air, soil, and water, and deficits arising from the inventory evaluation of FW treatment options were assessed. The system boundaries involve transportation, feedstock, biogas, electricity production, and bio-fertilizer processing. The scenarios for FW treatment were modeled and evaluated using the GaBi database and the functional unit is defined as the management of one ton of treated FW. The findings discovered the wet AD scenario depicts a drastic reduction in emissions of air (6.90E+01 kg) and freshwater (9.66E+03 kg) as compared to Scenario 1 (dry AD) and 3 (landfill). The number of pollutants generated from the analysis of Scenario 3, in which all waste is brought to a disposal site, indicates there is a massive exposure of air pollution (5.12E+03 kg) and freshwater contaminants (1.18E+06 kg) from landfills. Carbon dioxide and methane are the two most significant sources of emissions. To achieve a more accurate result, it is suggested by contrasting the value chain with the related studies conducted. Further, in the third phase of the life cycle assessment analysis, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), the statistics on elementary flows from the LCI are converted into environmental impact scores

Life cycle assessment of food waste composting management

The objective of the review is to explore the various operational conditions and conceptual approaches regarding the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the different composting technologies through the analysis of previous research journals and reports relating to food waste (FW). Many types of research concentrate on waste generation and proportions analysis of certain composting techniques, however less LCA on decision-making approaches for FW composting through aerobic or anaerobic management, or not a mixture of these has been conducted. Therefore, gaps in the availability of literature and decision-making frameworks indicate that systematic LCA approaches to different composting systems are needed as a biological technology for the treatment of organic waste. The environmental effect should also be evaluated in terms of the input feedstock and operating modes to produce the basis with reduced variations between the studies. Furthermore, particular methodological issues exist in the investigation of LCA composting systems, such as the concept of a functional unit, the database used, the variation of life cycle impact assessment methodologies, and the coverage of the impacts. Therefore, the review and its analyses offer valuable context for explaining the operational dimensions of LCA to prevent misconceptions due to the varying complexity of composting LCA's within analysis by offering methodological guidelines for alleviating the related uncertainties

Integrating water-energy-nexus in carbon footprint analysis: the case study of water utility company

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the water-energy-nexus within the context of carbon footprint methodology and water utility industry. In particular, the carbon management for water utility industry is crucial in reducing carbon emission within the upstream water distribution system. The concept of water-energy nexus alone however can be misleading due to exclusion of indirect and embodied energy involved in the water production. The study highlights the total energy use within water supply system as well as embedded carbon emission through carbon footprint methodology. The case study approach is used as a research method. The carbon footprint analysis includes data collection from water utility company; and data identification of direct and indirect carbon emission from corporation operation. The result indicates that the indirect and embodied energy may not be significant in certain operation area but the energy use may be ambiguous when these elements are excluded. Integrating carbon footprint methodology within the water supply system can improve the understanding on water-energy-nexus when direct and indirect energy use is included in the analysis. This paper aims to benefit academics, government agencies and particularly water utility companies in integrating carbon footprint analysis in water production

Performance of MR-De'Duster in capturing low density particulate

A newly multi-cyclones named MR-deDuster is developed to capture particulate emission from potential industries. This study aims to assess the performance of MR-deDuster in capturing low density particulate. The tested particulate used in the study is PreKotTM (proprietary of AMR SDN. Bhd), which is a low density particulate available in the market and commonly used as a pre-coating material with particulate density of 747 ± 2.2 kg/m3. Fractional collection efficiency, overall collection efficiency, cut diameter (dpc) and stack concentration were used to determine the performance of unit. The study indicates the unit able to capture about 88% of low density particulate at volumetric gas flow rate of 0.19 m3/s. The study has shown that collection efficiency of MR-deDuster increased as the volumetric gas flow rate increased. However, as the volumetric flow rate of gas was further increased to 0.21 m3/s, the collection efficiency of the unit was reduced. The optimum collection efficiency was observed to occur at volumetric gas flow rate of 0.19 m3/s

Water Sensitive Approach in Assessing Project Feasibility using the Adaptation of Life Cycle Assessment with Water Quality Index and Water Exploitation Index

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a valuable tool not only for analyzing the environmental impact of a product but also for assisting in early-stage product development before incurring scaling-up costs. When validating a new process or project, it may be constrained to align with existing regulations or standards. Therefore, combining LCA with other applicable standards is essential to demonstrate the project's feasibility. In this regard, the water quality index (WQI) and Water Exploitation Index (WEI) provide additional information that reflects the overall water quality at a specific location and time. The objective of this study is to utilize the LCA framework in conjunction with the Malaysia WQI and WEI to protect the water quantity and water quality of the river. A negative change in the WQI score indicates that the current effluent from the process is degrading the river's classification, rendering it undesirable and necessitating a reduction in concentration. The findings demonstrate that the method for determining effluent requirements for a water treatment system is straightforward and replicable. Such an approach could be employed, for example, in an environmental impact analysis of a project to verify its viability