Environmental and economic assessment of cow manure competitive utilization for land return, biochar and biofuel
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 15 credits / 22,5 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
The utilization of cow manure has become a challenge for European countries withthe development of livestock farming. Land return, biofuel and biochar are the threemeasures for cow manure utilization in recent years. However, there remains a gap forenvironmental and economic impacts of these utilizations. To address this issue, thestudy utilizes life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) to evaluate theenvironmental and economic benefits of three cow manure treatment methods (cowmanure-to-soil, cow manure-to-biofuel, and cow manure-to-biochar). The analysis isconducted using SimaPro 9.0.0.48 software with the Ecoinvent 3 database, followingthe ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. The research focuses primarily on Halland,Sweden. The results indicate that the cow manure-to-soil process has the leastenvironmental impact, particularly in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions andsubstituting fossil energy sources. The life cycle costing analysis reveals that the cowmanure-to-biofuel process incurs the lowest cost per ton of processed cow manure,followed by the cow manure-to-soil process. Therefore, the cow manure-to-soilprocess is more prevalent, as it is environmentally friendly. In contrast, the biogasproduced in the cow manure-to-biofuel process can be utilized for electricitygeneration, offering significant economic benefits. Although the cost of cow manurebiochar is high, in the long run, applying biochar to the soil can enhance its carbonsequestration capacity, actively absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, andgenerate significant environmental benefits.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 34
Keywords [en]
Life cycle assessment, Life cycle costing, Cow manure utilization, Biochar, Biofuel
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-54241OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-54241DiVA, id: diva2:1882649
Subject / course
Environmental Science
Educational program
Master's Programme in Applied Environmental Science
Presentation
2024-05-24, S3060, Kristian IV väg 3, Halmstad, 14:30 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-07-222024-07-062024-07-22Bibliographically approved