Professional paper
APPLICATION OF INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES FOR WASTE MINIMIZATION, ENERGY SAVING AND GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSION REDUCTION IN AGRO-FOOD SECTOR
Andrea Hublin
orcid.org/0000-0001-9381-2363
; EKONERG – Energy and Environmental Protection Institute, Ltd., Zagreb, Croatia
Mirjana Čurlin
orcid.org/0000-0002-8010-1877
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Current management of agro-food waste in Croatia represents a specific environmental problem due to inadequate and uncontrolled management practices of a large portion of this waste stream which can lead to pollution of air, soil, surface and ground water.
Application of integrated technologies in agro-food sector has significant potential in terms of waste minimization, energy saving and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission reduction. Processes development tends to zero emissions of waste. Agro-food waste can be used for production of biofuel through various fermentation processes. Optimization of integrated process systems leads to more effective utilization of resources and waste in order to accomplish sustainable process.
The EU targets, 20% of energy generation from renewable sources and 20% reduction of GHG emissions by 2020, can be fulfilled by the implementation of new environmentally-friendly technologies to produce energy and treat waste in a less costly way, in terms of energy consumption and environmental impact.
Keywords
Agro-food waste; energy; GHG emission
Hrčak ID:
132748
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2014.
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