IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i13p3191-d1424892.html

Turning Food Loss and Food Waste into Watts: A Review of Food Waste as an Energy Source

Author

Listed:
  • Florentios Economou

    (Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia, Nicosia 2231, Cyprus
    Science and Technology Driven Policy and Innovation Research Center (STeDI-RC), The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia 2121, Cyprus)

  • Irene Voukkali

    (Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia, Nicosia 2231, Cyprus)

  • Iliana Papamichael

    (Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia, Nicosia 2231, Cyprus)

  • Valentina Phinikettou

    (Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia, Nicosia 2231, Cyprus)

  • Pantelitsa Loizia

    (Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Sustainable Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia, Nicosia 2231, Cyprus)

  • Vincenzo Naddeo

    (Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II, 84084 Fisciano, Italy)

  • Paolo Sospiro

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Marco Ciro Liscio

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Christos Zoumides

    (Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC), The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia 2121, Cyprus)

  • Diana Mihaela Țîrcă

    (Head of the Center of Fundamental and Applied Economic Studies, Faculty of Economics Constantin Brancusi University of Targu-Jiu, Tineretului Street, No. 4, 210185 Targu-Jiu, Romania)

  • Antonis A. Zorpas

    (Science and Technology Driven Policy and Innovation Research Center (STeDI-RC), The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia 2121, Cyprus)

Abstract

Food loss (FL) and food waste (FW) have become severe global problems, contributing to resource inefficiency and environmental degradation. Approximately 6% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are derived from FW, which is usually discarded in landfills, emitting methane, a gas that is 28 times more harmful than CO 2 . Diverting the path of FW towards the energy industry represents a promising avenue to mitigate the environmental impact and save resources while generating energy substitutes. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach was utilized to conduct a systematic literature review on 10 different conversion processes used to convert FL and FW into energy. Anaerobic bioconversion integrated with pyrolysis emerges as a potential eco-friendly and promising solution for FW management, nutrient recovery and energy production in various forms, including biogas, heat, biohydrogen and biochar. Despite its potential, the anaerobic digestion of FW still faces some challenges related to the production of intermediate harmful compounds (VOCs, NH 3 , H 2 S), which necessitate precise process control and optimization. Nonetheless, converting FW into energy can provide economic and environmental benefits in the context of the circular economy. This review offers insightful information to stakeholders, academics and policymakers who are interested in utilizing FW as a means of producing sustainable energy by summarizing the important findings of ten different waste-to-energy processing methods and their potential for improved energy recovery efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Florentios Economou & Irene Voukkali & Iliana Papamichael & Valentina Phinikettou & Pantelitsa Loizia & Vincenzo Naddeo & Paolo Sospiro & Marco Ciro Liscio & Christos Zoumides & Diana Mihaela Țîrcă & , 2024. "Turning Food Loss and Food Waste into Watts: A Review of Food Waste as an Energy Source," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-30, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3191-:d:1424892
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3191/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3191/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jung, Sungyup & Jung, Jong-Min & Tsang, Yiu Fai & Bhatnagar, Amit & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Lin, Kun-Yi Andrew & Kwon, Eilhann E., 2022. "Biodiesel production from black soldier fly larvae derived from food waste by non-catalytic transesterification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    2. Joana C. Prata & Ana L. Patrício Silva & João P. da Costa & Catherine Mouneyrac & Tony R. Walker & Armando C. Duarte & Teresa Rocha-Santos, 2019. "Solutions and Integrated Strategies for the Control and Mitigation of Plastic and Microplastic Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Piazzi, Stefano & Patuzzi, Francesco & Baratieri, Marco, 2022. "Energy and exergy analysis of different biomass gasification coupled to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    4. Shen, Yafei & Yu, Shili & Ge, Shun & Chen, Xingming & Ge, Xinlei & Chen, Mindong, 2017. "Hydrothermal carbonization of medical wastes and lignocellulosic biomass for solid fuel production from lab-scale to pilot-scale," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 312-323.
    5. Feng, Kai & Li, Huan & Deng, Zhou & Wang, Qiao & Zhang, Yangyang & Zheng, Chengzhi, 2020. "Effect of pre-fermentation types on the potential of methane production and energy recovery from food waste," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1588-1595.
    6. Pohl, Marcel & Sánchez-Sánchez, Maria & Mumme, Jan, 2019. "Anaerobic digestion of wheat straw and rape oil cake in a two-stage solid-state system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 359-367.
    7. Marinos Stylianou & Iliana Papamichael & Irene Voukkali & Michail Tsangas & Michalis Omirou & Ioannis M. Ioannides & Antonis A. Zorpas, 2023. "LCA of Barley Production: A Case Study from Cyprus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Jay N. Meegoda & Brian Li & Kush Patel & Lily B. Wang, 2018. "A Review of the Processes, Parameters, and Optimization of Anaerobic Digestion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Antonio Picone & Maurizio Volpe & Antonio Messineo, 2021. "Process Water Recirculation during Hydrothermal Carbonization of Waste Biomass: Current Knowledge and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Lopes, E.J. & Okamura, L.A. & Maruyama, S.A. & Yamamoto, C.I., 2018. "Evaluation of energy gain from the segregation of organic materials from municipal solid waste in gasification processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 623-629.
    11. Baldi, F. & Pecorini, I. & Iannelli, R., 2019. "Comparison of single-stage and two-stage anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and activated sludge for hydrogen and methane production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1755-1765.
    12. Algapani, Dalal E. & Qiao, Wei & Ricci, Marina & Bianchi, Davide & M. Wandera, Simon & Adani, Fabrizio & Dong, Renjie, 2019. "Bio-hydrogen and bio-methane production from food waste in a two-stage anaerobic digestion process with digestate recirculation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1108-1115.
    13. Hidalgo, D. & Castro, J. & Díez, D. & Martín-Marroquín, J.M. & Gómez, M. & Pérez, E., 2023. "Torrefaction at low temperature as a promising pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass in anaerobic digestion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    14. Ma, Yingqun & Cai, Weiwei & Liu, Yu, 2017. "An integrated engineering system for maximizing bioenergy production from food waste," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 83-89.
    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. Anna Rolewicz-Kalińska & Krystyna Lelicińska-Serafin & Piotr Manczarski, 2025. "Selection Path for Energy-Efficient Food Waste Management in Urban Areas: Scenario Analysis and Insights from Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Piotr Sulewski & Adam Wąs, 2024. "Agriculture as Energy Prosumer: Review of Problems, Challenges, and Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-35, December.
    3. Ahmad, Anwar & Almohamadi, Hamad & Alnasser, Abdullah S. & Nasser, Qazi & Al-Sibani, Mohammed & Al-Rahbi, Amal S. & Mubarak, Mohammad S., 2026. "Microbial synergies in co-digestion of food waste and wastewater sludge: pathways to energy recovery and emission reduction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PB).

    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. Prakash Kumar Sarangi & Priti Pal & Akhilesh Kumar Singh & Uttam Kumar Sahoo & Piotr Prus, 2024. "Food Waste to Food Security: Transition from Bioresources to Sustainability," Resources, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-24, November.
    2. Tsigkou, Konstantina & Sventzouri, Eirini & Zafiri, Constantina & Kornaros, Michael, 2023. "Digestate recirculation rate optimization for the enhancement of hydrogen production: The case of disposable nappies and fruit/vegetable waste valorization in a mesophilic two-stage anaerobic digestion system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    3. Xinyuan Liu & Ruying Li & Min Ji, 2019. "Effects of Two-Stage Operation on Stability and Efficiency in Co-Digestion of Food Waste and Waste Activated Sludge," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Srisowmeya, G. & Chakravarthy, M. & Nandhini Devi, G., 2020. "Critical considerations in two-stage anaerobic digestion of food waste – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. Oumaima Chaib & Nicolas Abatzoglou & Inès Esma Achouri, 2024. "Lignocellulosic Biomass Valorisation by Coupling Steam Explosion Treatment and Anaerobic Digestion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Jing, Huiyan & Cui, Yue & Ye, Meiying & Yan, Xusheng & Liu, Yanping, 2022. "Effect of zero-valent iron on acidification and methane production using food waste under different food-to-microorganism ratios," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 131-143.
    7. Wang, Shuaibing & Lin, Haitao & Abed, Azher M. & Mahariq, Ibrahim & Ayed, Hamdi & Mouldi, Abir & Lin, Zhixiang, 2024. "Life cycle analysis of biowaste-to- biogas/biomethane processes: Cost and environmental assessment of four different biowaste scenarios organic fraction of municipal solid waste and secondary sewage sludge)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    8. Zeng, Qingkang & Ha, Juntong & Ren, Yuanyuan & Li, Yu-You & Qin, Yu, 2026. "Optimization of recirculation ratio for biohythane production by two-phase anaerobic co-digestion of high-solid food waste and paper waste," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    9. Teimouri, Zahra & Abatzoglou, Nicolas & Dalai, Ajay K., 2024. "A novel machine learning framework for designing high-performance catalysts for production of clean liquid fuels through Fischer-Tropsch synthesis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    10. Tian, Wenjing & Li, Jianhao & Zhu, Lirong & Li, Wen & He, Linyan & Gu, Li & Deng, Rui & Shi, Dezhi & Chai, Hongxiang & Gao, Meng, 2021. "Insights of enhancing methane production under high-solid anaerobic digestion of wheat straw by calcium peroxide pretreatment and zero valent iron addition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1321-1332.
    11. Thi Thanh Thuy Phan & Van Viet Nguyen & Hong Thi Thu Nguyen & Chun-Hung Lee, 2022. "Integrating Citizens’ Importance-Performance Aspects into Sustainable Plastic Waste Management in Danang, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    12. van der Berg, David J. & Teke, George Mbella & Görgens, Johann F. & van Rensburg, Eugéne, 2024. "Predicting commercial-scale anaerobic digestion using biomethane potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    13. Roopnarain, Ashira & Rama, Haripriya & Ndaba, Busiswa & Bello-Akinosho, Maryam & Bamuza-Pemu, Emomotimi & Adeleke, Rasheed, 2021. "Unravelling the anaerobic digestion ‘black box’: Biotechnological approaches for process optimization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    14. Song, Yapeng & Hu, Wanrong & Qiao, Wei & Westerholm, Maria & Wandera, Simon M. & Dong, Renjie, 2022. "Upgrading the performance of high solids feeding anaerobic digestion of chicken manure under extremely high ammonia level," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 13-20.
    15. Anna Marciniuk-Kluska & Mariusz Kluska, 2025. "Energy Recovery from Municipal Biodegradable Waste in a Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-17, April.
    16. Kim, Dohee & Kim, Taehyun & Kim, Yungeon & Park, Jinwoo, 2025. "Integration of biomass gasification and water electrolysis: Importance of sweep gas selection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 393(C).
    17. Elena Rossi & Isabella Pecorini & Giovanni Ferrara & Renato Iannelli, 2022. "Dry Anaerobic Digestion of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste: Biogas Production Optimization by Reducing Ammonia Inhibition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Yao, Zhongliang & Ma, Xiaoqian & Xiao, Zhiyuan, 2020. "The effect of two pretreatment levels on the pyrolysis characteristics of water hyacinth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 514-527.
    19. Tu, Ren & Sun, Yan & Wu, Yujian & Fan, Xudong & Cheng, Shuchao & Jiang, Enchen & Xu, Xiwei, 2021. "Selective production of furfural and phenols from rice husk: the influence of synergetic pretreatments with different order," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 297-308.
    20. Luis G. Cortés & J. Barbancho & D. F. Larios & J. D. Marin-Batista & A. F. Mohedano & C. Portilla & M. A. de la Rubia, 2022. "Full-Scale Digesters: Model Predictive Control with Online Kinetic Parameter Identification Strategy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-23, November.

    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:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3191-:d:1424892. 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.