Comparative Analysis of Rural Organic Waste Treatment Scenarios: Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Environmental Impacts, and Economic Performance

Abstract

The management of rural organic solid wastes (ROSW) in China have faced significant environmental and economic challenges. There is an urgent need to explore more optimal scenarios for ROSW management. This study compared and evaluated three ROSW treatment scenarios (anaerobic digestion (AD), aerobic composting (AC), the integration of anaerobic digestion combined with aerobic composting (AD-AC). Emission factor methods, life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis were applied to assess greenhouse emissions, other environmental impacts and the economic performance for each scenario. The results indicated that AD-AC scenario provided the lowest net GHGs emissions (1462.38 kg CO2-eq/FU), compare to AD scenario (3008.06 kg CO2-eq/FU) and AC scenario (2394.78 kg CO2-eq/FU). Additionally, AD-AC scenario achieved the most substantial environmental advantages in Human health and Ecosystem of End-points impact categories and Terrestrial ecotoxicity, Fossil resource scarcity, Human carcinogenic toxicity, Land use, Ozone formation, Water consumption and Mineral resource scarcity of Mid-point impact categories. Also, AD-AC scenario demonstrated considerable economic benefits (1765.7 CNY/FU). These findings revealed that AD-AC were more low-carbon and sustainable than the AD-only or AC-only scenario. This study provided valuable insights for the implementation of integrated waste management systems and contributes to advancing the sustainability of rural waste management in China.

Keywords: Rural organic solid wastes, Anaerobic digestion, Aerobic composting, Greenhouse gas emissions, economic performance