An Integrated Approach for Food Waste Management: Technoeconomic and Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract Description: Food waste (FW) refers to food intended for human consumption that is wasted due to improper storage and labeling, oversized servings, overstocking, lack of meal planning, pests, weather conditions, etc. It poses a serious threat to the environment, society and economy, yet the generation of food waste keeps increasing even though ~42 countries around the world still experience alarming hunger rates [1]. Concerns about the environmental impact of FW disposal methods are escalating, due to its significant effect on energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. The conventional method of FW management by landfill has been reported to generate a great amount of GHG emissions [2]. Several methods of FW management such anaerobic digestion, composting, incineration, etc have also been implemented. However, the environmental impact of such technologies is yet to be widely assessed. The environmental impacts of all these FW management techniques need to be measured in a way that fairly compares them. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as the primary tool for policymakers for comparing waste management techniques. LCA is a systematic process for tracking and quantifying environmental impacts of a product or process through all the stages of its life cycle. Notably, the selection of a FW management technique depends not only on the environmental factors but also the economic factors. Despite this, the field of optimizing FW management pathways by balancing cost analysis and environmental impacts has received limited attention.

This study presents a comprehensive analysis into the selection of the optimized pathways for food waste treatment. SuperPro® Designer and ASPENTM are process simulation software which will be used to simulate the process of the existing FW management pathways. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) will be conducted to assess the economic feasibility of the proposed pathways and the LCA will be conducted via SimaPro to evaluate the environmental impacts of these pathways

We anticipate that the integration of TEA and LCA into the established framework will guide the selection of the most viable pathway for the management of specific food waste based on its composition and availability of resources and technology alternatives.

[1] M. Wiemers, M. Bachmeier, A. Hanano, and A. Vaughan, Bonn, p. 1, Oct. 2024.
[2] J. A. Moult, S. R. Allan, C. N. Hewitt, and M. Berners-Lee, Food Policy, vol. 77, pp. 50–58, May 2018.