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A comparison of carbon footprint and production cost of different pasta products based on whole egg and pea flour
Feed and food production are inter alia reasons for high greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by the replacement of animal components with plant components in processed food products, such as pasta. The main components currently used for pasta are semolina, and water, as well as additional egg. The hypothesis of this paper is that the substitution of whole egg with plant-based ingredients, for example from peas, in such a product might lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and thus a reduced carbon footprint at economically reasonable costs. The costs and carbon footprints of two pasta types, produced with egg or pea protein, are calculated. Plant protein–based pasta products proved to cause 0.57 kg CO2 equivalents (CO2eq) (31%) per kg pasta less greenhouse gas emissions than animal-based pasta, while the cost of production increases by 10% to 3.00 €/kg pasta.
Energy balance, greenhouse gas emissions, and profitability of thermobarical pretreatment of cattle waste in anaerobic digestion
In this study modeled full scale application of thermobarical hydrolysis of less degradable feedstock for biomethanation was assessed in terms of energy balance, greenhouse gas emissions, and economy. Data were provided whether the substitution of maize silage as feedstock for biogas production by pretreated cattle wastes is beneficial in full-scale application or not. A model device for thermobarical treatment has been suggested for and theoretically integrated in a biogas plant. The assessment considered the replacement of maize silage as feedstock with liquid and/or solid cattle waste (feces, litter, and feed residues from animal husbandry of high-performance dairy cattle, dry cows, and heifers). The integration of thermobarical pretreatment is beneficial for raw material with high contents of organic dry matter and ligno-cellulose: Solid cattle waste revealed very short payback times, e.g. 9 months for energy, 3 months for greenhouse gases, and 3 years 3 months for economic amortization, whereas, in contrast, liquid cattle waste did not perform positive replacement effects in this analysis.