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Energy and Environmental Factors in Food and Beverage Production Systems: An Analysis of Tomatoes, Whisky, and Beer
University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science, Environmental Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8111-8921
2024 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Given the anticipated global population of approximately 10 billion by 2050, the task of ensuring adequate sustenance for all within the constraints of Earth's limited resources presents a significant challenge. The production of food and beverages demands considerable energy investment, as well as other essential resources such as water and nutrients. In addition to this, food production is associated with different kinds of environmental impact, such as global warming, eutrophication, acidification, and biodiversity loss.

This thesis analyzes energy and environmental factors in food and beverage production systems, focusing on tomatoes, whisky, and beer production. It aims to identify energy and environmental hotspots in these systems while also exploring the potential benefits of selected waste management practices, such as anaerobic digestion, for improving system circularity and environmental performance. The thesis uses several methods for energy and environmental systems analysis, including life cycle assessment and material flow analysis, as well as energy system simulation and optimization.

A key finding is the role of local resources, such as renewable energy and access to waste treatment facilities, in determining the environmental impact. Additionally, electricity use and production methods significantly influenced the environmental impact of the studied systems. The importance of transportation varied across the systems, due to differences in transport requirements of both inputs and outputs. Furthermore, this study evaluates various alternatives for increased circularity, particularly through waste treatment and improved resource efficiency. The results contribute to increased understanding of environmental performance across several production systems, offering insights for decision-makers aiming to enhance environmental sustainability of food and beverage production.

Abstract [sv]

Med tanke på den förväntade globala befolkningen på ungefär 10 miljarder människor år 2050 är det en stor utmaning att säkerställa tillräcklig matförsörjning inom jordens begränsade resurser. Mat- och dryckesproduktion kräver betydande energimängder, samt andra väsentliga resurser som vatten och näringsämnen, och är förknippad med miljöpåverkan som global uppvärmning, övergödning, försurning och förlust av biologisk mångfald.

Denna avhandling presenterar en analys av energi- och miljöfaktorer i system för produktion av mat och dryck, med fokus på produktion av tomater, whisky och öl. Den syftar till att identifiera energi- och miljöproblem i dessa system, samt utforska potentiella fördelar med utvalda avfallshanteringstekniker, såsom rötning, för att förbättra systemens cirkularitet och miljöprestanda. Avhandlingen använder flera olika metoder för energi- och miljösystemanalys, inklusive livscykelanalys, materialflödesanalys, samt simulering och optimering av energisystem.

En viktig upptäckt som visade sig för alla system är rollen som lokala resurser, såsom förnybar energi och tillgång till avfallshantering, spelar för produkternas miljöpåverkan. Även mängderna och produktionsmetoderna för elektricitet hade en avsevärd påverkan på miljöpåverkan för de studerade systemen. Transporternas betydelse varierade mellan systemen, på grund av olika transportbehov för insatsvaror, produkter och avfall. Denna studie utvärderar också flera alternativ där förbättrad cirkularitet ökade systemets miljömässiga hållbarhet, främst genom avfallsbehandling och förbättrad resursanvändning. Vidare visade denna studie på potentialen för ökad cirkularitet, särskilt genom avfallsbehandling och förbättrad resursanvändning. Resultaten bidrar till ökad förståelse för miljöprestanda för flera produktionssystem och ger insikter för beslutsfattare som syftar till att förbättra miljömässig hållbarhet vid produktion av mat och dryck.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Gävle: Gävle University Press , 2024. , p. 70
Series
Doctoral thesis ; 40
Keywords [en]
environmental systems analysis, waste management, import, local resources, food production, beverage production, circularity
National Category
Energy Systems Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Sustainable Urban Development
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-43365ISBN: 978-91-89593-19-0 (print)ISBN: 978-91-89593-20-6 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-43365DiVA, id: diva2:1816665
Public defence
2024-02-15, Lilla Jadwigasalen, 12108, Kungsbäcksvägen 47, Gävle, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2024-01-25 Created: 2023-12-04 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. Life cycle assessment of greenhouse tomatoes for the Swedish market
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Life cycle assessment of greenhouse tomatoes for the Swedish market
2023 (English)In: Journal of Cleaner Production, ISSN 0959-6526, E-ISSN 1879-1786, Vol. 431, article id 139819Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The food supply chain is responsible for a large share of the anthropogenic contribution to global warming, as well as being a major contributor to several other impact categories such as acidification and eutrophication. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways of limiting the impact from food production and the food supply chain. Many crops are not adapted to growing in regions with cold climate, which creates the need to either import them or to use production methods such as greenhouses to artificially create good conditions for the crops. Sweden is currently reliant on imports for many different crops, including tomatoes where most of the consumption is covered by import from the Netherlands. This study uses life cycle assessment to analyze the potential environmental impact of Swedish tomato consumption, by comparing several year-round domestic production scenarios with scenarios representing import from the Netherlands. This is done by using a greenhouse simulation software to simulate a theoretical greenhouse placed in both countries, and then using the simulation results in combination with data from the database EcoInvent to perform a life cycle assessment. The results showed that Swedish domestic production has the potential to decrease the environmental impact of tomatoes consumed in Sweden, when compared to import from the Netherlands. There were a couple of combinations of production scenarios and impact categories where the Dutch production performed better, but the Swedish production scenarios performed better in general. The results also clearly showed that scenarios using LED lighting systems consistently had a lower impact than similar production scenarios using high-pressure sodium lighting systems. The choice of energy sources was identified as a crucial factor when it comes to the environmental impact of the studied systems.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023
Keywords
Greenhouse, Life cycle assessment, Tomato, Import, Simulations, Lighting
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Sustainable Urban Development
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-43362 (URN)10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.139819 (DOI)001123630700001 ()2-s2.0-85177883073 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2023-12-03 Created: 2023-12-03 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved
2. Exploring Interactions Between Fruit and Vegetable Production in a Greenhouse and an Anaerobic Digestion Plant—Environmental Implications
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Exploring Interactions Between Fruit and Vegetable Production in a Greenhouse and an Anaerobic Digestion Plant—Environmental Implications
2021 (English)In: Frontiers in Sustainability, E-ISSN 2673-4524, Vol. 2, article id 770296Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Greenhouse fruit and vegetable production uses large amounts of energy and other resources, and finding ways of reducing its impact may increase sustainability. Outputs generated from solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) are suitable for use in greenhouses, which creates a need to investigate the consequences of the possible interactions between them. Connecting the fruit and vegetable production with the resource flows from an SS-AD process, e.g., biogas and digestate, could increase circularity while decreasing the total environmental impact. There are currently no studies where a comprehensive assessment of the material flows between greenhouses and SS-AD are analyzed in combination with evaluation of the environmental impact. In this study, material flow analysis is used to evaluate the effects of adding tomato related waste to the SS-AD, while also using life cycle assessment to study the environmental impact of the system, including production of tomatoes in a greenhouse and the interactions with the SS-AD. The results show that the environmental impact decreases for all evaluated impact categories as compared to a reference greenhouse that used inputs and outputs usually applied in a Swedish context. Using the tomato related waste as a feedstock for SS-AD caused a decrease of biomethane and an increase of carbon dioxide and digestate per ton of treated waste, compared to the digestion of mainly food waste. In conclusion, interactions between a greenhouse and an SS-AD plant can lead to better environmental performance by replacing some of the fertilizer and energy required by the greenhouse.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Frontiers, 2021
Keywords
hydroponic process, greenhouse, life cycle assessment, industrial symbiosis, digestate, tomato, anaerobic digestion (AD)
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-38892 (URN)10.3389/frsus.2021.770296 (DOI)001281635600001 ()2-s2.0-85158954566 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2022-06-10 Created: 2022-06-10 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved
3. Life cycle assessment of Swedish single malt whisky
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Life cycle assessment of Swedish single malt whisky
2016 (English)In: Journal of Cleaner Production, ISSN 0959-6526, E-ISSN 1879-1786, Vol. 112, no 1, p. 229-237Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Agricultural production and further processing to food and drink have large impacts on the environment. However, there are still few examples of LCA studies on beverages such as whisky. This paper presents a life cycle assessment of Swedish single malt whisky and different environmental improvements of the production chain are discussed. The functional unit is one bottle (70cl) of whisky and results are obtained for global warming potential (GWP), Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication potential (EP) and primary energy (PE). The contribution to GWP is dominated by CO<inf>2</inf> emissions from transport of stillage. When avoided emissions from use of biogas are included, the net result is 2.1tonnes CO<inf>2</inf>-eq. Acidification is mainly due to emissions of SO<inf>2</inf> from bottle production, transport and barley cultivation which ends up to 14.6kgSO<inf>2</inf>-eq. Eutrophication results are totally dominated by barley cultivation, in total 8.6kgPO43-The total use of primary energy is 53.5MJ/FU with a 50/50 distribution in renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewables emanate from fossil fuels used for transports and in glass production, whereas renewables are mostly used for heating in the distillery. Improvement analysis of transports included; (1) decreasing need of transport, (2) change of fuel and (3) change of transport mode. Decreasing transport of stillage is an efficient measure to reduce GWP and use of non-renewable energy. Substituting diesel with biodiesel for all road transports is an even more efficient measure for these categories, but increases other environmental impact. For all impact categories except use of renewable energy a scenario combining all improvements is the most efficient measure to reduce environmental impact. The results can be used by the manufacturer, but an improved and expanded LCA on product level can be used for a more specific eco-labelling of the different whisky editions. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2016
Keywords
Beverage, Biogas, Eco-labelling, LCA, Transports, Whisky
National Category
Other Environmental Engineering
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-20107 (URN)10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.07.050 (DOI)000368206700024 ()2-s2.0-84938118536 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2015-08-17 Created: 2015-08-17 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved
4. Life cycle assessment of craft beer production in Sweden
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Life cycle assessment of craft beer production in Sweden
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Sustainable Urban Development
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-43364 (URN)
Available from: 2023-12-03 Created: 2023-12-03 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved
5. Life cycle assessment of horse manure treatment
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Life cycle assessment of horse manure treatment
2016 (English)In: Energies, E-ISSN 1996-1073, Vol. 9, no 12, article id 1011Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Horse manure consists of feces, urine, and varying amounts of various bedding materials. The management of horse manure causes environmental problems when emissions occur during the decomposition of organic material, in addition to nutrients not being recycled. The interest in horse manure undergoing anaerobic digestion and thereby producing biogas has increased with an increasing interest in biogas as a renewable fuel. This study aims to highlight the environmental impact of different treatment options for horse manure from a system perspective. The treatment methods investigated are: (1) unmanaged composting; (2) managed composting; (3) large-scale incineration in a waste-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant; (4) drying and small-scale combustion; and (5) liquid anaerobic digestion with thermal pre-treatment. Following significant data uncertainty in the survey, the results are only indicative. No clear conclusions can be drawn regarding any preference in treatment methods, with the exception of their climate impact, for which anaerobic digestion is preferred. The overall conclusion is that more research is needed to ensure the quality of future surveys, thus an overall research effort from horse management to waste management.

Keywords
horse manure; bedding material; life cycle assessment (LCA); anaerobic digestion; incineration; composting; biogas; combustion
National Category
Bioenergy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-23035 (URN)10.3390/en9121011 (DOI)000392402700012 ()2-s2.0-85002989961 (Scopus ID)
Note

Funding: Region Gävleborg

Available from: 2016-12-15 Created: 2016-12-14 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved

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Danevad, Daniel

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