Publication
Title
Environmental impact of microbial protein from potato wastewater as feed ingredient : comparative consequential life cycle assessment of three production systems and soybean meal
Author
Abstract
Livestock production is utilizing large amounts of protein-rich feed ingredients such as soybean meal. The proven negative environmental impacts of soybean meal production incentivize the search for alternative protein sources. One promising alternative is Microbial Protein (MP), i.e. dried microbial biomass. To date, only few life cycle assessments (LCAs) for MP have been carried out, none of which has used a consequential modelling approach nor has been investigating the production of MP on food and beverage wastewater. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental impact of MP production on a food and beverage effluent as a substitute for soybean meal using a consequential modelling approach. Three different types of MP production were analysed, namely consortia containing Aerobic Heterotrophic Bacteria (AHB), Microalgae and AHB (MaB), and Purple Non-Sulfur Bacteria (PNSB). The production of MP was modelled for high-strength potato wastewater (COD = 10 kg/m3) at a flow rate of 1,000 m3/day. LCA results were compared against soybean meal production for the endpoint impact categories human health, ecosystems, and resources. Soybean meal showed up to 52% higher impact on human health and up to 87% higher impact on ecosystems than MP. However, energy-related aspects resulted in an 8–88% higher resource exploitation for MP. A comparison between the MP production systems showed that MaB performed best when considering ecosystems (between 13 and 14% better) and resource (between 71 and 80% better) impact categories, while AHB and PNSB had lower values for the impact category human health (8–12%). The sensitivity analysis suggests that the conclusions drawn are robust as in the majority of 1,000 Monte Carlo runs the initial results are confirmed. In conclusion, it is suggested that MP is an alternative protein source of comparatively low environmental impact that should play a role in the future protein transition, in particular when further process improvements can be implemented and more renewable or waste energy sources will be used.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Water research / International Association on Water Pollution Research. - Oxford, 1967, currens
Publication
Oxford : 2020
ISSN
0043-1354 [print]
1879-2448 [online]
DOI
10.1016/J.WATRES.2019.115406
Volume/pages
171 (2020) , 12 p.
Article Reference
115406
ISI
000514748900032
Pubmed ID
31881500
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
BrewPro: Multi-stage microbial technology for the cost-effective production of high-quality animal feed on brewery effluents.
Integrating the future in life cycle assessment? An ex-ante case study of emerging innovative slag treatment technologies.
MicroNOD : Microbial Nutrients On Demand.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 06.01.2020
Last edited 02.10.2024
To cite this reference