Sustainability assessment of a novel vehicular biomethane production from swine manure compared to conventional...

Intensive farming faces manure overproduction, with European Union generating 1.4 billion tonnes annually, mostly untreated. Spain leads pig manure production in Europe and has the potential to turn manure into biogas through anaerobic digestion. This research conducted a Sustainability Assessment of the project LIFE SMART Agromobility, covering the assessment of biomethane and biofertilizers including Environmental, Social and Cost Life Cycle Analyses. Biofertilizer production slightly increased environmental impacts (7.2%) and significantly increased economic costs. However, benefits such as job creation, repopulation, and odour reduction were noted. In contrast, biomethane production showed 46.9% of reduction in environmental impacts, improved energy independence, and 18.3% of reduction in costs. The main conclusion is that sustainability benefits of biomethane are concentrated in its usage, surpassing gasoline. Moreover, comparing the impacts per farm of 3450 pigs shows similar environmental impact, highercosts, with social benefits in biomethane production.