Davison, N, Brown, A orcid.org/0000-0001-9044-9167 and Ross, A (2023) Potential Greenhouse Gas Mitigation from Utilising Pig Manure and Grass for Hydrothermal Carbonisation and Anaerobic Digestion in the UK, EU, and China. Agriculture, 13 (2). 479. ISSN 2077-0472
Abstract
Pig manure currently results in sizeable greenhouse gas emissions, during storage and spreading to land. Anaerobic digestion and hydrothermal carbonisation could provide significant greenhouse gas mitigation, as well as generate renewable heat and power (with anaerobic digestion), or a peat-like soil amendment product (with hydrothermal carbonisation). The greenhouse gas mitigation potential associated with avoidance of pig manure storage and spreading in the UK, EU, and China, as well as the potential to provide heat and power by anaerobic digestion and soil amendment products by hydrothermal carbonisation was herein determined. In each case, the mono-conversion of pig manure is compared to co-conversion with a 50:50 mixture of pig manure with grass. Anaerobic digestion displayed a greater greenhouse gas mitigation potential than hydrothermal carbonisation in all cases, and co-processing with grass greatly enhances greenhouse gas mitigation potential. China has the largest greenhouse gas mitigation potential (129 MT CO₂ eq), and greatest mitigation per kg of pig manure (1.8 kgCO₂/kg pig manure volatile solids). The energy grid carbon intensity has a significant impact on the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of the different approaches in the different regions. Pig manure is generated in large amounts in China, and the energy generated from biogas offsets a higher carbon intensity grid. Greenhouse gas savings from the anaerobic digestion of pig manure and grass have been calculated to provide a significant potential for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions representation in China (1.05%), the EU (0.92%), and the UK (0.19%). Overall, the utilisation of pig manure could bring about substantial greenhouse savings, especially through co-digestion of pig manure with grass in countries with large pig farming industries and carbon intense energy mixes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | hydrothermal carbonisation; anaerobic digestion; pig manure; grass; peat substitution; GHG mitigation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number BBSRC (Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council) BB/S011439/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Apr 2023 09:39 |
Last Modified: | 03 Apr 2023 09:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/agriculture13020479 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:197931 |