Comparative life cycle assessment of anaerobic digestion, lagoon evaporation, and direct land application of olive mill wastewater

Georgios Manthos; Dimitris Zagklis; Constantina Zafiri; Michael Kornaros

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129778

Comparative life cycle assessment of anaerobic digestion, lagoon evaporation, and direct land application of olive mill wastewater

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Nov:388:129778. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129778. Epub 2023 Sep 16.

Authors

Georgios Manthos¹, Dimitris Zagklis¹, Constantina Zafiri², Michael Kornaros³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering & Environmental Technology (LBEET), Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, 1 Karatheodori Str., University Campus, 26504 Patras, Greece; Institute of Circular Economy and Environment (ICEE), University of Patras' Research and Development Center, 26504 Patras, Greece.
² Green Technologies Ltd., 5 Ellinos Stratiotou Str., Patras 26223, Greece.
³ Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering & Environmental Technology (LBEET), Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, 1 Karatheodori Str., University Campus, 26504 Patras, Greece; Institute of Circular Economy and Environment (ICEE), University of Patras' Research and Development Center, 26504 Patras, Greece. Electronic address: kornaros@chemeng.upatras.gr.

PMID: 37722542
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129778

Abstract

Olive mill wastewater is a prominent waste stream in the Mediterranean countries, with its uncontrolled disposal in water recipients causing significant environmental issues. Anaerobic digestion has been extensively studied for the treatment of various agricultural waste streams. The scope of the present study was the environmental evaluation of the anaerobic digestion of three-phase olive mill wastewater for energy production in an anaerobic bioreactor. Regarding the environmental assessment of the process, the results indicate a lead in the proposed process compared with the baseline scenarios. Moreover, several environmental issues in terrestrial acidification and water eutrophication midpoint categories were exhibited by the digestate utilization. The implementation of the anaerobic digestion method averts an overall environmental damage of 5 mPt per 1000 kg of waste treated. For this reason, the implementation of the proposed method could be a sustainable alternative for wastewater treatment in olive oil production regions, aiming to circular economy.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Direct land application; Evaporation lagoon; LCA; Olive Mill Wastewater; Sustainability.