A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Anaerobic Mono- and Co-Digestion of Livestock Manure in Bangladesh

Proper management of biogenic residues, particularly livestock manure and food waste, is a major challenge for Bangladesh. While mono-digestion has traditionally been used on farms for treating manure, inadequate energetic output limits its applicability. Food waste, however, is typically landfilled in current practice. Co-digestion of biowaste emerged as an alternative due to synergistic yield and capacity to handle multiple waste streams. However, its environmental performance is underreported, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to compare the environmental implications of co-digestion and mono-digestion of livestock manure (poultry and cow manure) with food waste from a life cycle assessment perspective for the regional context of Bangladesh. Two inventory cases were considered, accounting for mechanistically calculated (case M) and experimentally reported synergistic biogas yield (case E). Co-digestion scenarios showed net benefits by reducing three of the five impact categories-considerably reducing climate change (up to 117%), eutrophication potential, and terrestrial ecotoxicity in both cases (54.5 % and 55.7 %, respectively). The highest decrease occurred for climate change by diverting food waste landfilling. However, when synergistic biogas yield was considered, acidification potential and malodor air emissions increased by co-digestion owing to a higher amount of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia in the produced gas, thus entailing significant environmental burdens. The key hotspot in most categories was open storage of digestate, necessitating appropriate post-treatment.