Life Cycle Analysis of the Bioethanol Production from Food Waste—A Review

Aikaterini Konti, Dimitris Kekos and Diomi Mamma
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Aikaterini Konti: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Dimitris Kekos: Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
Diomi Mamma: Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: Food Waste (FW) because of its composition is considered as an ideal feedstock for the production of biofuels and in particular bioethanol. The production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic materials has been studied over a long time. The process consists of the stages of pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and product recovery. However, the legal framework regarding biofuels has established specific environmental criteria for their production which are regularly updated. The most common tool for the assessment of the environmental performance of a process or product is the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). In the present review, the results of LCA studies on the production of bioethanol from food waste are presented. Significant differences are observed among the studies in terms of the methodological choices made. Despite the high heterogeneity observed which does not allow a direct comparison among them, there is strong evidence that the production of bioethanol from food waste is an eco-friendly process which can substantially contribute to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions savings.

Keywords: biofuels; environmental impact; fermentation; sustainability; waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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