5^th World Bioenergy Congress and Expo

Biography

Biography: Irene M C Lo

Abstract

Food waste represents a major constituent of the municipal solid waste in urban cities while it can be used to produce useful products if well managed. In Hong Kong, the local Government has planned to employ anaerobic digestion to produce biogas from food waste. In consequence, the biogas produced can be converted into different forms of energy use, such as electricity and heat, city gas, and biogas fuel for vehicle use. It is essential to determine the best option for converting food waste based on their environmental performance so as to strive for a sustainable waste management system. In this study, life cycle assessment is conducted to evaluate the life cycle environmental performance of different food waste converting options (i.e., electricity and heat, city gas, and biogas fuel for vehicle use). The LCA is conducted using SimaPro 7.2.4 software with ReCiPe version 1.04 to evaluate both the impact and damage categories. For impact categories, climate change is the key impact category and it is found that biogas fuel as petrol substitute has achieved the best environmental performance compared to other converting options with -103.67 kg CO₂e/tonne food waste. If 1,080 tonnes per day of food waste can be converted into biogas fuel as petrol substitute, approximately 2% of greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced in the transport sector in Hong Kong.   

Recent Publications:

1. Chiu, S.L.H. and Lo, I.M.C. (2016). Reviewing the anaerobic digestion and co-digestion process of food waste from the perspectives on biogas production performance and environmental impacts. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, In press.
2. Woon, K.S. and Lo, I.M.C. (2016). An integrated life cycle costing and human health impact analysis of municipal solid waste management options in Hong Kong using modified eco-efficiency indicator. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 107, 104-114
3. Chiu, S.L.H., Lo, I.M.C., Woon, K.S. and Yan, D.Y.S. (2016). Life cycle assessment of waste treatment strategy for sewage sludge and food waste in Macau: perspectives on environmental and energy production performance. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 21(2), 176-189.
4. Woon, K.S. and Lo, I.M.C. (2016). A Proposed Framework of Food Waste Collection and Recycling for Renewable Biogas Fuel Production in Hong Kong. Waste Management, 47, 3-10. 
5. Woon, K.S. and Lo, I.M.C. (2014). Analyzing Environmental Hotspots of Proposed Landfill Extension and Advanced Incineration Facility in Hong Kong using Life Cycle Assessment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 75: 64-74.