Room: Amazon
Date: Thursday, 21 May 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Session code 2CO.8
Advancing sustainable bioprocesses: life cycle and techno-economic perspectives
Integration of Hydrothermal Carbonization into Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Systems: A Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment
Short Introductive summary
This work is a techno-economic and environmental analysis of integrating hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) into anaerobic digestion (AD) of food waste. Conventional AD systems show limitations related to fugitive methane emissions, limited digestate valorization and the need for energy-intensive sterilization. Based on laboratory experiments with HTC treatment of digestate and aqueous HTC liquid (AHL), results indicate that HTC can reduce methane emissions and improve substrate conversion efficiency when integrated into AD. Therefore, this work will provide an assessment of the economic and environmental implications of such integration, aiming to demonstrate its potential to enhance circularity and improve the overall sustainability of AD-treated waste.
Presenter
Lara CARVALHO
Mälardalen University, Sustainable Environment and Construction Dpt., SWEDEN
Presenter's biography
Associate Senior Lecturer in Environmental Engineering. Research focus on thermochemical conversion of biomass, including gasification-based biofuel plants as well HTC and pyrolysis of biomass waste for recovery of energy and nutrients.
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
F. Ebrahimian, Mälardalen University, Västerås, SWEDEN
A. Ahmad Shahnawazi, Mälardalen University, Västerås, SWEDEN
H. Tibbetts, Mälardalen University, Västerås, SWEDEN
S. Schwede, Mälardalen University, Västerås, SWEDEN
Session reference: 2CO.8.4