IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i19p11925-d921363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Household Food Waste to Biogas in Västerås, Sweden: A Comprehensive Case Study of Waste Valorization

Author

Listed:
  • Tingting Liu

    (Institute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

  • Qian Zhang

    (Institute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)

  • Xiaowen Kang

    (Energy Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, NDRC, Beijing 100038, China)

  • Jiaqi Hou

    (Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China)

  • Tao Luo

    (Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu 610041, China)

  • Yi Zhang

    (Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

Abstract

Sustainable large-scale household food waste (HFW) reutilization is difficult worldwide. This study presents a systematic and in-depth analysis of the case of Västerås, Sweden, where biogas has been produced from HFW for years and utilized as renewable vehicle fuel. Various aspects are covered, including the logistic flow, energy recovery, environmental benefits, cost-benefit analysis, and social survey. In 2017, 8879 tons of food waste were collected from Västerås city, which could generate 590,000 Nm 3 biomethane and support 21 biogas-powered buses. A reduction of 1052.9–1541.2 tons of CO 2-eq was estimated by replacing fossil fuels in vehicles and centralized composting units for HFW. The actual operating profit of this process amounted to 6.604 million Swedish Krona (SEK), and the maximized environmental economic benefit was estimated to be 3.15–3.73 million SEK/year. The active participation of the residents to source-separate their HFW was crucial to the success of the project, and the driving factors were tentatively identified as value orientation and facility convenience. With information pooled from various sectors, this study constructs a comprehensive reference case for industrial, academic, and municipal entities that are interested in similar practices in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Tingting Liu & Qian Zhang & Xiaowen Kang & Jiaqi Hou & Tao Luo & Yi Zhang, 2022. "Household Food Waste to Biogas in Västerås, Sweden: A Comprehensive Case Study of Waste Valorization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:11925-:d:921363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11925/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11925/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Browne, James D. & Allen, Eoin & Murphy, Jerry D., 2014. "Assessing the variability in biomethane production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste in batch and continuous operation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 307-314.
    2. De Clercq, Djavan & Wen, Zongguo & Gottfried, Oliver & Schmidt, Franziska & Fei, Fan, 2017. "A review of global strategies promoting the conversion of food waste to bioenergy via anaerobic digestion," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 204-221.
    3. Lindmark, Johan & Leksell, Niklas & Schnürer, Anna & Thorin, Eva, 2012. "Effects of mechanical pre-treatment on the biogas yield from ley crop silage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 498-502.
    4. De Clercq, Djavan & Wen, Zongguo & Fei, Fan, 2017. "Economic performance evaluation of bio-waste treatment technology at the facility level," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 178-184.
    5. Zhang, Shaojun & Wu, Ye & Liu, Huan & Huang, Ruikun & Yang, Liuhanzi & Li, Zhenhua & Fu, Lixin & Hao, Jiming, 2014. "Real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of urban public buses in Beijing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1645-1655.
    6. Liu, Tingting & Wu, Yufeng & Tian, Xi & Gong, Yu, 2015. "Urban household solid waste generation and collection in Beijing, China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 31-37.
    7. Jin, Yiying & Chen, Ting & Chen, Xin & Yu, Zhixin, 2015. "Life-cycle assessment of energy consumption and environmental impact of an integrated food waste-based biogas plant," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 227-236.
    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. Deng, Yawen & Ng Tsan Sheng, Adam & Xu, Jiuping, 2023. "Authority-enterprise equilibrium based mixed subsidy mechanism for the value-added treatment of food waste," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Nancy Brett, 2023. "From Benefits to Value(s): Biogas Systems Valuation Practices from a Swedish Regional Perspective," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(5), pages 128-128, September.

    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. Roozbeh Feiz & Jonas Ammenberg & Annika Björn & Yufang Guo & Magnus Karlsson & Yonghui Liu & Yuxian Liu & Laura Shizue Moriga Masuda & Alex Enrich-Prast & Harald Rohracher & Kristina Trygg & Sepehr Sh, 2019. "Biogas Potential for Improved Sustainability in Guangzhou, China—A Study Focusing on Food Waste on Xiaoguwei Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Woon, Kok Sin & Phuang, Zhen Xin & Lin, Zuchao & Lee, Chew Tin, 2021. "A novel food waste management framework combining optical sorting system and anaerobic digestion: A case study in Malaysia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    3. Olkis, Christopher & Brandani, Stefano & Santori, Giulio, 2019. "Design and experimental study of a small scale adsorption desalinator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Zhuang, Rui & Wang, Xiaonan & Guo, Miao & Zhao, Yingru & El-Farra, Nael H. & Palazoglu, Ahmet, 2020. "Waste-to-hydrogen: Recycling HCl to produce H2 and Cl2," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    5. Sun, Lu & Liu, Wenjing & Li, Zhaoling & Cai, Bofeng & Fujii, Minoru & Luo, Xiao & Chen, Wei & Geng, Yong & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Le, Yiping, 2021. "Spatial and structural characteristics of CO2 emissions in East Asian megacities and its indication for low-carbon city development," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    6. Zhang, Shaojun & Wu, Ye & Un, Puikei & Fu, Lixin & Hao, Jiming, 2016. "Modeling real-world fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions with high resolution for light-duty passenger vehicles in a traffic populated city," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 461-471.
    7. Rodriguez, Cristina & Alaswad, A. & Benyounis, K.Y. & Olabi, A.G., 2017. "Pretreatment techniques used in biogas production from grass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1193-1204.
    8. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard B., 2016. "Energy saving potential of natural ventilation in China: The impact of ambient air pollution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 660-668.
    9. 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.
    10. Katarzyna Ignatowicz & Gabriel Filipczak & Barbara Dybek & Grzegorz Wałowski, 2023. "Biogas Production Depending on the Substrate Used: A Review and Evaluation Study—European Examples," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, January.
    11. Tian, Xi & Wu, Yufeng & Qu, Shen & Liang, Sai & Xu, Ming & Zuo, Tieyong, 2016. "The disposal and willingness to pay for residents scrap fluorescent lamps in China: A case study of Beijing," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 103-111.
    12. O’Shea, Richard & Kilgallon, Ian & Wall, David & Murphy, Jerry D., 2016. "Quantification and location of a renewable gas industry based on digestion of wastes in Ireland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 229-239.
    13. Mohammadrezaei, Rashed & Zareei, Samira & Behroozi- Khazaei, Nasser, 2018. "Optimum mixing rate in biogas reactors: Energy balance calculations and computational fluid dynamics simulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 54-60.
    14. 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.
    15. Sun, Chihe & Xia, Ao & Liao, Qiang & Fu, Qian & Huang, Yun & Zhu, Xun, 2019. "Life-cycle assessment of biohythane production via two-stage anaerobic fermentation from microalgae and food waste," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 395-410.
    16. Zhou, Hewen & Yang, Qing & Gul, Eid & Shi, Mengmeng & Li, Jiashuo & Yang, Minjiao & Yang, Haiping & Chen, Bin & Zhao, Haibo & Yan, Yunjun & Erdoğan, Güneş & Bartocci, Pietro & Fantozzi, Francesco, 2021. "Decarbonizing university campuses through the production of biogas from food waste: An LCA analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 565-578.
    17. Shiju Liao & Xiaoyun Du & Liyin Shen & Minghe Lv, 2021. "Evaluation Method for Urban Public Service Carrying Capacity (UPSCC): A Qualitative–Quantitative Bi-Dimensional Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Ortner, Markus & Wöss, David & Schumergruber, Alexander & Pröll, Tobias & Fuchs, Werner, 2015. "Energy self-supply of large abattoir by sustainable waste utilization based on anaerobic mono-digestion," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 460-471.
    19. Fontecha, John E. & Nikolaev, Alexander & Walteros, Jose L. & Zhu, Zhenduo, 2022. "Scientists wanted? A literature review on incentive programs that promote pro-environmental consumer behavior: Energy, waste, and water," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    20. Allen, Eoin & Wall, David M. & Herrmann, Christiane & Murphy, Jerry D., 2016. "A detailed assessment of resource of biomethane from first, second and third generation substrates," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(P1), pages 656-665.

    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:19:p:11925-:d:921363. 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.