Abstract

Urban animal farming is becoming increasingly important in feeding the growing population of many sub-Saharan African cities. However, management of the animal manure generated is proving to be challenging due to space restrictions. Vermicomposting is one of the methods proposed to address this challenge. This study investigated the environmental performance of the vermicompost system by measuring the gaseous emissions generated from the system. In addition, the vermicompost system was compared with other manure management systems currently in use, using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The emissions factors for the vermicompost system were found to be 10.8, 62.3 and 12.8 g/Megagram biowaste for methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia, respectively. LCA showed satisfactory performance of vermicomposting in terms of global warming and eutrophication potential, although if the vermicompost generated is dumped, this could lead to increased eutrophication. However, this is still much lower than the eutrophication caused by open dumping of untreated manure. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Manure; Sub-Saharan Africa; Emission factors; Lifecycle assessment; Fertiliser; Economic performance

Published in

Journal of Environmental Management
2016, Volume: 181, pages: 395-402
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

SLU Authors

• Vinnerås, Björn

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.06.028

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/83110