TITLE:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Cost Analyses for the Treatment Options of Food Waste and Human Excrement
AUTHORS: Sora Yi, Kee-Young Yoo
KEYWORDS: Food Waste Disposer, Food Waste Drying Machine, Composting, Biogasification, Automatic Vacuum Waste Collection System
JOURNAL NAME: Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol.5 No.7,
May
28,
2014
ABSTRACT:
This study
suggested environmental and economic evaluations by developing a scenario
according to the various treatment options of food waste in Korea. In
particular, the study evaluated the possibility about the combined treatment of
food waste and human excrement after using food waste disposers (FWDs). The
scenario including only composting (133 kg CO2 equiv./ton-household
organic waste) or only FWDs (125 kg CO2 equiv./ton-household organic
waste) was superior to the other scenarios in the environmental aspect and the
scenario including only composting (101 USD/ton-household organic waste) was
superior to the other scenarios in the economic aspect. However, the study
discovered that 52% of greenhouse gas emission was reduced when sewage
pretreatment was conducted in houses after using FWDs and also when biogas was
collected on site and utilized in the private power station. Furthermore, the
energy saving effect due to recovery of biogas has found to be larger in the
environment aspect than in the economic aspect.