IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v399y2025ics0306261925011845.html

Sustainable food waste-to-bioenergy supply chain with rate of return under triple bottom line approach

Author

Listed:
  • Rani, Arzo
  • Singh, Shubham Kumar
  • Goel, Abhinav
  • Chauhan, Anand

Abstract

The increasing global concern over food waste management and sustainable energy production has driven the need for an efficient food waste-to-bioenergy supply chain. However, achieving economic viability with environmental sustainability and social benefits remains challenging. The study proposes an optimized food waste to bioenergy supply chain model that integrates a multi-objective optimization framework based on the triple bottom line approach. The model incorporates an incentive-based food waste collection policy, enhancing the rate of return of food waste and reducing dependence on secondary feedstock. The effect of food waste availability on supply chain sustainability is analyzed under several scenarios, and the environmental and social impact of the food waste-to-bioenergy supply chain is assessed using a life cycle assessment approach. The multi-objective mixed integer linear programming problem is optimized using the multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique. Numerical results indicate that implementing an incentive mechanism, with the optimal acquisition cost of $3.4, increases the rate of return on food waste by 96.7 %, significantly maximizing the social impact while minimizing environmental impact and overall supply chain cost. However, procuring secondary feedstock mitigates supply chain risk and maintains bioenergy production but increases total cost, environmental, and social impact by 17.12 %, 3.92 %, and 16.67 %, respectively. The Pareto-based trade-off analysis demonstrates the flexibility of the multi-objective optimization model in balancing objectives. The findings offer strategic insights for policymakers and industries to integrate sustainable food waste management with bioenergy production, offering a comprehensive decision-support framework for enhancing sustainability and efficiency in the food waste-to-energy sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Rani, Arzo & Singh, Shubham Kumar & Goel, Abhinav & Chauhan, Anand, 2025. "Sustainable food waste-to-bioenergy supply chain with rate of return under triple bottom line approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 399(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:399:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925011845
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925011845
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126454?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nketiah, Emmanuel & Song, Huaming & Adjei, Mavis & Adu-Gyamfi, Gibbson & Obuobi, Bright & Cudjoe, Dan, 2024. "Assessment of energy generation potential and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from biogas from food waste: Insights from Jiangsu Province," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    2. Di Maria, Francesco & Sordi, Alessio & Cirulli, Giuseppe & Micale, Caterina, 2015. "Amount of energy recoverable from an existing sludge digester with the co-digestion with fruit and vegetable waste at reduced retention time," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 9-14.
    3. Pradeep Kumar Meena & Amit Pal & Samsher, 2024. "Characterization, utility, and interrelationship of household organic waste generation in academic campus for the production of biogas and compost: a case study," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 2687-2713, January.
    4. Keogh, N. & Corr, D. & Monaghan, R.F.D., 2024. "An environmental and economic assessment for biomethane injection and natural gas heavy goods vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    5. Murphy, J. D. & McKeogh, E. & Kiely, G., 2004. "Technical/economic/environmental analysis of biogas utilisation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(4), pages 407-427, April.
    6. Moult, J.A. & Allan, S.R. & Hewitt, C.N. & Berners-Lee, M., 2018. "Greenhouse gas emissions of food waste disposal options for UK retailers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 50-58.
    7. Ersoy, Ali Erdinc & Ugurlu, Aysenur, 2024. "Bioenergy's role in achieving a low-carbon electricity future: A case of Türkiye," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).
    8. Du, Jingguo & Zou, Yunhe & Dahlak, Aida, 2024. "Process development and multi-criteria optimization of a biomass gasification unit combined with a novel CCHP model using helium gas turbine, kalina cycles, and dual-loop organic flash cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    9. Lee, Jae-Young & Sim, Young-Bo & Jung, Ju-Hyeong & Pandey, Ashutosh Kumar & Kyung, Daeseung & Kim, Sang-Hyoun, 2024. "Greenhouse gas emissions and net energy production of dark fermentation from food waste followed by anaerobic digestion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    10. Felix T.S. Chan & Z.X. Wang & A. Goswami & A. Singhania & M.K. Tiwari, 2020. "Multi-objective particle swarm optimisation based integrated production inventory routing planning for efficient perishable food logistics operations," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(17), pages 5155-5174, September.
    11. Sadhukhan, Jhuma, 2014. "Distributed and micro-generation from biogas and agricultural application of sewage sludge: Comparative environmental performance analysis using life cycle approaches," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 196-206.
    12. Bipasyana Dhungana & Sunil Prasad Lohani & Michael Marsolek, 2022. "Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food Waste with Livestock Manure at Ambient Temperature: A Biogas Based Circular Economy and Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Wojciech Rzeźnik & Ilona Rzeźnik & Paulina Mielcarek-Bocheńska & Mateusz Urbański, 2023. "Air Pollutants Emission during Co-Combustion of Animal Manure and Wood Pellets in 15 kW Boiler," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Jones, R.E. & Speight, R.E. & Blinco, J.L. & O'Hara, I.M., 2022. "Biorefining within food loss and waste frameworks: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Standish, B. & Lutge, B., 2013. "Assessing the potential for electricity generation from animal waste biogas on South African farms," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 52(2), March.
    4. Nancy Diaz-Elsayed & Jiayi Hua & Nader Rezaei & Qiong Zhang, 2023. "A Decision Framework for Designing Sustainable Wastewater-Based Resource Recovery Schemes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    5. Morin, Philippe & Marcos, Bernard & Moresoli, Christine & Laflamme, Claude B., 2010. "Economic and environmental assessment on the energetic valorization of organic material for a municipality in Quebec, Canada," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 275-283, January.
    6. Konečná, Eva & Teng, Sin Yong & Máša, Vítězslav, 2020. "New insights into the potential of the gas microturbine in microgrids and industrial applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    7. Hrabec, Dušan & Hvattum, Lars Magnus & Hoff, Arild, 2022. "The value of integrated planning for production, inventory, and routing decisions: A systematic review and meta-analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Li, Yangyang & Jin, Yiying & Li, Hailong & Borrion, Aiduan & Yu, Zhixin & Li, Jinhui, 2018. "Kinetic studies on organic degradation and its impacts on improving methane production during anaerobic digestion of food waste," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 136-147.
    9. Sunil Prasad Lohani & Renisha Acharya & Poushan Shrestha & Sundar Shrestha & K. C. Manisha & Prajal Pradhan, 2024. "Sustainable biogas production potential in Nepal using waste biomass: A spatial analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 4770-4781, October.
    10. Hatem Abushammala & Muhammad Adil Masood & Salma Taqi Ghulam & Jia Mao, 2023. "On the Conversion of Paper Waste and Rejects into High-Value Materials and Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    11. Lauer, Markus & Hansen, Jason K. & Lamers, Patrick & Thrän, Daniela, 2018. "Making money from waste: The economic viability of producing biogas and biomethane in the Idaho dairy industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 621-636.
    12. Hao, Xiaoli & Yang, Hongxing & Zhang, Guoqiang, 2008. "Trigeneration: A new way for landfill gas utilization and its feasibility in Hong Kong," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 3662-3673, October.
    13. Kumar, Aman & Singh, Ekta & Mishra, Rahul & Lo, Shang Lien & Kumar, Sunil, 2023. "Global trends in municipal solid waste treatment technologies through the lens of sustainable energy development opportunity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    14. Rubí Medina-Mijangos & Luis Seguí-Amórtegui, 2020. "Research Trends in the Economic Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1980 to 2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Bacenetti, Jacopo & Sala, Cesare & Fusi, Alessandra & Fiala, Marco, 2016. "Agricultural anaerobic digestion plants: What LCA studies pointed out and what can be done to make them more environmentally sustainable," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 669-686.
    16. Murphy, J.D. & Power, N., 2009. "Technical and economic analysis of biogas production in Ireland utilising three different crop rotations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 25-36, January.
    17. Huang, Zhi & Su, Bosheng & Wang, Yilin & Yuan, Shuo & Huang, Yupeng & Li, Liang & Cai, Jiahao & Chen, Zhiqiang, 2024. "A novel biogas-driven CCHP system based on chemical reinjection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    18. Smejkalová, Veronika & Jirásek, Petr & Burcin, Boris & Kučera, Tomáš & Pluskal, Jaroslav & Nevrlý, Vlastimír & Šomplák, Radovan, 2025. "Demographic development in waste production forecasts for energy recovery planning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    19. Padi, Richard Kingsley & Douglas, Sean & Murphy, Fionnuala, 2023. "Techno-economic potentials of integrating decentralised biomethane production systems into existing natural gas grids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    20. Mirmasoumi, Siamak & Khoshbakhti Saray, Rahim & Asgari, Nima, 2025. "Exergy-based economic, environmental, and sustainability analysis of two different biogas-fueled trigeneration proposals for a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:appene:v:399:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925011845. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    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.