GEMMA - Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC), c/ Jordi Girona, 1-3, Building D1, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London, Chadwick building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Oct 10;894:164992. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164992. Epub 2023 Jun 21.
The objective of this study was to analyse the environmental impacts of the post-treatment and agricultural reuse of digestate from a low-tech digester implemented in a small-scale farm in Colombia using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The scenarios considered were: 1) digestate post-treatment with a sand filter and its reuse in agriculture; 2) digestate post-treatment with a vermifilter and the production of compost, and 3) untreated digestate directly applied on the agricultural land (current scenario). Moreover, an economic analysis was also addressed. Results showed that the vermifilter was the most environmentally friendly scenario. It considerably reduced (by up to 9 times) the environmental impacts compared to the other scenarios. From an economic point of view, the implementation of the vermifilter generated an increase in farmers' income (up to 70 $ year) since it avoids buying synthetic fertilizer. Finally, the implementation of a vermifilter for the post-treatment and agricultural reuse of digestate from low-tech digesters showed to have both environmental and economic benefits. This technology can help to promote the circular bioeconomy in small-scale farms, reducing poverty and improving the standard of living in rural areas.
本研究旨在分析在哥伦比亚小型农场中使用低技术消化器处理后，对消化物进行后处理和农业再利用的环境影响，使用生命周期评估方法。考虑的情景有：1）用沙滤器对消化物进行后处理并在农业中再利用；2）用蚯蚓过滤器对消化物进行后处理并生产堆肥，以及 3）未经处理的消化物直接施用于农业用地（当前情景）。此外，还进行了经济分析。结果表明，蚯蚓过滤器是最环保的方案。与其他方案相比，它大大减少（最多减少 9 倍）了环境影响。从经济角度来看，由于蚯蚓过滤器避免了购买合成肥料，因此实施蚯蚓过滤器可以增加农民的收入（每年增加 70 美元）。最后，实施蚯蚓过滤器对低技术消化器的消化物进行后处理和农业再利用，显示出了环境和经济效益。该技术有助于在小型农场中促进循环生物经济，减少贫困并提高农村地区的生活水平。
