IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i22p14841-d968749.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sewage Sludge Biorefinery for Circular Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Daniele Cecconet

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Andrea G. Capodaglio

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

Abstract

Sewage sludge processing and disposal have a significant weight on the energy and economic balances of wastewater treatment operations and contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions related to wastewater processing. Despite this, sewage sludge contains substantial recoverable resources in the form of energy and useful molecules. The current challenge, other than reducing the environmental and economic impacts of its disposal, is to recover energy and materials from this waste stream, implementing a biosolid-centered circular economy with the greatest possible added value. A number of options along these lines exist, and others are being investigated, ranging from biological processes, thermochemical technologies, bioelectrochemical processing, biorefineries and others. Recoverable resources comprise biogas from sludge fermentation, liquid and solid end products (e.g., biodiesel and biochar) and valuable nutrients (N and P). This paper presents a state of the art of biorefinery, with emphasis on recent developments in non-conventional resource recovery from EBSS streams for sludge-based circular economy implementation. Expectations and limitations, including technological readiness, of these technologies are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniele Cecconet & Andrea G. Capodaglio, 2022. "Sewage Sludge Biorefinery for Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:14841-:d:968749
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/14841/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/14841/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea G. Capodaglio & Arianna Callegari & Maria Virginia Lopez, 2016. "European Framework for the Diffusion of Biogas Uses: Emerging Technologies, Acceptance, Incentive Strategies, and Institutional-Regulatory Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-18, March.
    2. de Jesus, Sérgio S. & Filho, Rubens Maciel, 2020. "Recent advances in lipid extraction using green solvents," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tugba Sapmaz & Reza Manafi & Amir Mahboubi & Derya Y. Koseoglu-Imer & Mohammad J. Taherzadeh, 2023. "The Effect of Sequential and Simultaneous Supplementation of Waste-Derived Volatile Fatty Acids and Methanol as Alternative Carbon Source Blend for Wastewater Denitrification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Yuhang Shi & Qinyong Ma & Dongdong Ma & Kun Huang & Yuqi Gu, 2023. "Effect of Aggregate Mix Proportion on Static and Dynamic Mechanical Properties and Pore Structure of Alkali-Activated Slag Mortar with Sludge Pottery Sand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea G. Capodaglio & Gustaf Olsson, 2019. "Energy Issues in Sustainable Urban Wastewater Management: Use, Demand Reduction and Recovery in the Urban Water Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Muhammad Usman & Shuo Cheng & Sasipa Boonyubol & Jeffrey S. Cross, 2023. "Evaluating Green Solvents for Bio-Oil Extraction: Advancements, Challenges, and Future Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-45, August.
    3. Islam, KM Nazmul & Sarker, Tapan & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Atri, Anashuwa Chowdhury & Alam, Mohammad Shafiul, 2021. "Renewable energy generation from livestock waste for a sustainable circular economy in Bangladesh," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Marco Segreto & Lucas Principe & Alexandra Desormeaux & Marco Torre & Laura Tomassetti & Patrizio Tratzi & Valerio Paolini & Francesco Petracchini, 2020. "Trends in Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy Across Europe—A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Siegrist, Armin & Bowman, Gillianne & Burg, Vanessa, 2022. "Energy generation potentials from agricultural residues: The influence of techno-spatial restrictions on biomethane, electricity, and heat production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    6. Andrea G. Capodaglio & Arianna Callegari, 2018. "Can Payment for Ecosystem Services Schemes Be an Alternative Solution to Achieve Sustainable Environmental Development? A Critical Comparison of Implementation between Europe and China," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-19, June.
    7. O'Connor, S. & Ehimen, E. & Pillai, S.C. & Black, A. & Tormey, D. & Bartlett, J., 2021. "Biogas production from small-scale anaerobic digestion plants on European farms," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. Atsushi Shimahata & Mohamed Farghali & Masahiko Fujii, 2020. "Factors Influencing the Willingness of Dairy Farmers to Adopt Biogas Plants: A Case Study in Hokkaido, Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-15, September.
    9. Gulnar Gadirli & Agnieszka A. Pilarska & Jacek Dach & Krzysztof Pilarski & Alicja Kolasa-Więcek & Klaudia Borowiak, 2024. "Fundamentals, Operation and Global Prospects for the Development of Biogas Plants—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Sica, Daniela & Esposito, Benedetta & Supino, Stefania & Malandrino, Ornella & Sessa, Maria Rosaria, 2023. "Biogas-based systems: An opportunity towards a post-fossil and circular economy perspective in Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    11. Anna Pääkkönen & Kalle Aro & Pami Aalto & Jukka Konttinen & Matti Kojo, 2019. "The Potential of Biomethane in Replacing Fossil Fuels in Heavy Transport—A Case Study on Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
    12. Zhu, Tong & Curtis, John & Clancy, Matthew, 2019. "Promoting agricultural biogas and biomethane production: Lessons from cross-country studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Bartolini, Fabio & Gava, Oriana & Brunori, Gianluca, 2017. "Biogas and EU's 2020 targets: Evidence from a regional case study in Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 510-519.
    14. Song, Xueyi & Yuan, Junjie & Yang, Chen & Deng, Gaofeng & Wang, Zhichao & Gao, Jubao, 2023. "Carbon dioxide separation performance evaluation of amine-based versus choline-based deep eutectic solvents," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Elena Tamburini & Mattias Gaglio & Giuseppe Castaldelli & Elisa Anna Fano, 2020. "Is Bioenergy Truly Sustainable When Land-Use-Change (LUC) Emissions Are Accounted for? The Case-Study of Biogas from Agricultural Biomass in Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Alberto Pardossi, 2020. "Improving Policy Evidence Base for Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security: A Content Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    17. Han, Jeehoon & Byun, Jaewon & Kwon, Oseok & Lee, Jechan, 2022. "Climate variability and food waste treatment: Analysis for bioenergy sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. de Jesus, Sérgio S. & Maciel Filho, Rubens, 2022. "Are ionic liquids eco-friendly?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Ramos-Suárez, J.L. & Ritter, A. & Mata González, J. & Camacho Pérez, A., 2019. "Biogas from animal manure: A sustainable energy opportunity in the Canary Islands," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 137-150.
    20. Nina Tsydenova & Alethia Vázquez Morillas & Álvaro Martínez Hernández & Diana Rodríguez Soria & Camilo Wilches & Alexandra Pehlken, 2019. "Feasibility and Barriers for Anaerobic Digestion in Mexico City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-21, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:14841-:d:968749. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.