Life Cycle Assessment on Food Waste Treatment Systems - biogasification and composting -

A case study of foodwaste treatment was conducted to compare the impacts of four scenarios: incineration, incineration after biogasification, biogasification followed by composting, and composting. Potential contributions to climate change, acidification, consumption of landfill and human toxicity were assessed. Characterization of human toxicity caused by metals and PCDD/DF was performed by three multimedia fate models. Scenarios with a biogasification process showed lower impact on climate change and human toxicity. The ranking of four scenarios on human toxicity varied depending on the characterization models applied. The steady state models placed high priority on emission of heavy metals to farmland, whereas the dynamic model estimated the emission of PCDD/DF from the incineration process as more significant.