Repository logo
 

Analysis of life cycle assessment of food/energy/waste systems and development and analysis of microalgae cultivation/wastewater treatment inclusive system

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorArmstrong, Kristina Ochsner, author
dc.contributor.authorBradley, Thomas H., advisor
dc.contributor.authorDe Long, Susan, committee member
dc.contributor.authorMarchese, Anthony, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T05:55:03Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T05:55:03Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractAcross the world, crises in food, energy, land and water resources, as well as waste and greenhouse gas accumulation are inspiring research into the interactions among these environmental pressures. In the food/energy/waste problem set, most of the research is focused on describing the antagonistic relationships between food, energy and waste; these relationships are often analyzed with life cycle assessment (LCA). These analyses often include reporting of metrics of environmental performance with few functional units, often focusing on energy use, productivity and environmental impact while neglecting water use, food nutrition and safety. Additionally, they are often attributional studies with small scope which report location-specific parameters only. This thesis puts forth a series of recommendations to amend the current practice of LCA to combat these limitations and then utilizes these suggestions to analyze a synergistic food/waste/energy system. As an example analysis, this thesis describes the effect of combining wastewater treatment and microalgae cultivation on the productivity and scalability of the synergistic system. To ameliorate the high nutrient and water demands of microalgae cultivation, many studies suggest that microalgae be cultivated in wastewater so as to achieve large scale and low environmental costs. While cultivation studies have found this to be true, none explore the viability of the substitution in terms of productivity and scale-up. The results of this study suggest that while the integrated system may be suitable for low-intensity microalgae cultivation, for freshwater microalgae species or wastewater treatment it is not suitable for high intensity salt water microalgae cultivation. This study shows that the integration could result in reduced lipid content, high wastewater requirements, no greenhouse gas emissions benefit and only a small energy benefit.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierArmstrong_colostate_0053N_11835.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/80202
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectbiofuels
dc.subjectwastewater
dc.subjectmicroalgae
dc.subjectlife cycle analysis
dc.subjectLCA
dc.titleAnalysis of life cycle assessment of food/energy/waste systems and development and analysis of microalgae cultivation/wastewater treatment inclusive system
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineMechanical Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Armstrong_colostate_0053N_11835.pdf
Size:
961.85 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

2000-2019
Theses and Dissertations