Innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets
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Information -
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Material -
Assessment
FEFTS Specifications
Research project
for Clean energy supply (Energy production system)
Renewable energy source
Biomass (Agricultural residues)
Technology used
Biogas/biomethane production
Special type
Anaerobic digestion technologies
Energy produced
Chemical energy
Suitable/ideal for
Gaseous fuels
Agricultural domain
Open-field agriculture
Suitable for
Farmer, Producers association, Advisory services, Industry
Applications
Other
Type of solution
Methodology
Details
Project`s acronym: NoAW
Project funding type: EU
Project funding source: H2020
Project coordinator: INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT (Prof. Nathalie Gontard (INRA)- Project Coordinator)
Coordinator location: France
Coordinator email / Contact form: nathalie.gontard@inra.fr
Project status: Finished
Total budget: 7816232.5
Additional info
Consortium members created with stakeholders, innovative eco-design tools to assess optimal agricultural waste management at the regional scale, with the aid of the NoAW Knowledge Exchange Stakeholders Platform, and applied them to case studies. They also developed technologies to replace petroleum-based plastic production and for bioenergy, biofertiliser, biopackaging, as well as biomolecules and building blocks to replace a significant range of non-renewable oil-based equivalents.
In addition, NoAW enhanced anaerobic digestion (AD), a mature waste conversion technology, into a two-step process. Researchers then used microbial electrosynthesis to upgrade the AD biogas into biomethane and biohythane for use as an automotive biofuel or to be injected into the natural gas grid.
Project partners also improved the microbial and chemical quality of the digestate to ensure its safe use as a fertiliser, thereby returning nutrients to land where manure potential is poor. Using AD to treat manure, nitrogen availability is increased by 5-20 %, which could reduce mineral fertiliser use by 10 %, a decrease of 3-5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Researchers conducted the fermentation of the VFAs from the two step AD process using bacteria to produce naturally biodegradable and recyclable polyester polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which can partially replace oil-based plastics. The scientists improved the PHAs’ properties using composites with lignocellulosic fillers and active materials with antioxidants from winery waste. According to Gontard: “By providing a sustainable alternative to conventional plastic for use in packaging and other applications, NoAW can help European industry and society achieve EU targets for renewable energy and materials, as well as reduce global warming and persistent pollution from plastic.”
Relevant Files and Videos
Files
- https://platform.agrofossilfree.eu/storage/fefts/files/additional_files/148d3e4de81d97650e71746c38e0246b.pdf
- https://platform.agrofossilfree.eu/storage/fefts/files/additional_files/f88b7ce7c1d86252196f0ebda06dd9d2.pdf
- https://noaw2020.eu/noaw-research-summary-sheets/
- https://noaw2020.eu/noaw-best-practice-guidelines/
Assessment
This section contains a brief assessment of the FEFTS described.
There are 3 basic categories: General, Environmental and Socioeconomic assessment.
The purpose of this assessment is to give a quick overview to the potential FEFTS user of its application benefits.
For each question, the Likert scale is used with the following possible answers:
Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree (Neutral)/non applicable, Agree, Strongly agree
General
This FEFTS contributes to improve the energy profiles of farming systems:Environmental
The application of this FEFTS directly reduces fossil energy use, in terms of:- Buildings electricity consumption
- Buildings heat use
- Tractors and vehicles fuel consumption
- Fertilizer reduction
- Manure reduction
Socioeconomic
The application of this FEFTS contributes to cost reductions of farming systems:Keep in mind that this assessment is subjective, based on publicly available information.
All registered users are asked to evaluate each FEFTS and when an adequate number of reviews is gathered the results depicted here are updated. Each review is screened in order to avoid malicious practices.
FEFTS providers who do not agree with the assessment results, can send their inquiry to info@agrofossilfree.eu and a direct action based on their petition will be taken.