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Environmental performance of end-of-life handling alternatives for paper-and-pulp-mill sludge: Using digestate as a source of energy or for biochar production

Author

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  • Mohammadi, Ali
  • Sandberg, Maria
  • Venkatesh, G.
  • Eskandari, Samieh
  • Dalgaard, Tommy
  • Joseph, Stephen
  • Granström, Karin

Abstract

This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of different alternatives for handling of sludge from paper and pulp mills in Sweden, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The common practice of incineration of biosludge with energy recovery followed by landfilling of ash (System A) was compared with the alternative of digesting sludge anaerobically to produce biogas using different digestate residue management options. The digestate produced from anaerobic digestion (AD) was assumed to be incinerated for heat energy recovery in System B or pyrolyzed for biochar production in System C to be mixed with forest soils. The impact categories considered in this work are climate change, non-renewable energy use, mineral extraction, aquatic ecotoxicity, carcinogens and non-carcinogens. The LCA results demonstrate that the two proposed systems significantly reduce the environmental impacts of biosludge management relative to incineration. An 85% reduction in the aquatic ecotoxicity impact is achieved in System C, due to the reduced mobility of heavy metals in biochar relative to ash. System C, on the whole, outperformed the other two, leading the authors to the recommendation that the use of pulp and paper mill biosludge in biogas-biochar production systems is preferable to merely recovering energy from it.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammadi, Ali & Sandberg, Maria & Venkatesh, G. & Eskandari, Samieh & Dalgaard, Tommy & Joseph, Stephen & Granström, Karin, 2019. "Environmental performance of end-of-life handling alternatives for paper-and-pulp-mill sludge: Using digestate as a source of energy or for biochar production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 594-605.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:182:y:2019:i:c:p:594-605
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.065
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kumar, Atul & Samadder, S.R., 2020. "Performance evaluation of anaerobic digestion technology for energy recovery from organic fraction of municipal solid waste: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    2. Ali Mohammadi & G. Venkatesh & Maria Sandberg & Samieh Eskandari & Stephen Joseph & Karin Granström, 2020. "A Comprehensive Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Hydrochar Pellets in Combined Heat and Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Malhotra, Milan & Aboudi, Kaoutar & Pisharody, Lakshmi & Singh, Ayush & Banu, J. Rajesh & Bhatia, Shashi Kant & Varjani, Sunita & Kumar, Sunil & González-Fernández, Cristina & Kumar, Sumant & Singh, R, 2022. "Biorefinery of anaerobic digestate in a circular bioeconomy: Opportunities, challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Alexandre Tisserant & Francesco Cherubini, 2019. "Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-34, November.
    5. Milan Carsky & Olga Solcova & Karel Soukup & Tomas Kralik & Kamila Vavrova & Lukas Janota & Miroslav Vitek & Stanislav Honus & Marek Jadlovec & Lenka Wimmerova, 2022. "Techno-Economic Analysis of Fluidized Bed Combustion of a Mixed Fuel from Sewage and Paper Mill Sludge," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-13, November.

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