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  • Substitution of beef with pea protein reduces the environmental footprint of meat balls whilst supporting health and climate stabilisation goals
    Publication . Saget, Sophie; Costa, Marcela; Santos, Carla Sancho; Vasconcelos, Marta Wilton; Gibbon, James; Styles, David; Williams, Michael
    Recent environmental footprint comparisons between meat and plant-based meat analogues do not consider nutritional density holistically, nor the high carbon opportunity costs (COC) of land requirements, which are critical in terms of climate stabilisation targets. We performed an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) of a 100 g serving of cooked protein balls (PPBs) made from peas (Pisum sativum), and Swedish-style beef meatballs (MBs) made from Irish or Brazilian beef. Per serving, PPB production and consumption was associated with lower environmental burdens across all 16 categories assessed. Global warming, acidification, and land use burdens of PPBs were at least 85%, 81%, and 89% smaller, respectively, than MBs. The scale of environmental advantage was sensitive to the allocation method, with biophysical allocation across cattle co-products decreasing MB burdens by at least 35%, 38%, and 46% in the acidification, climate change, and land use categories, respectively. Furthermore, PPBs have a higher nutritional density than MBs, and hence their environmental footprint per unit of nutrition was considerably lower across all 16 impact categories. Per Nutrient Density Unit, global warming, acidification, and land use burdens of PPBs were at least 89%, 87%, and 93% smaller, respectively, than MBs. Results were tested with Monte Carlo simulations and a modified null hypothesis significance test, which supported the main findings. Finally, when COC of land was factored in, the climate advantage of PPBs extended greatly. Assuming MBs equivalent to just 5% of German beef consumption are replaced by PPBs, total carbon savings including COC could amount to 8 million tonnes CO2e annually, an amount equal to 1% of Germany's annual GHG emissions. Therefore, this study highlights the potential of PPBs to meet health and climate neutrality objectives.
    2021-05-15Journal article Open access Show more
  • Simultaneous nitrification and phosphate removal by bioaugmented aerobic granules treating a fluoroorganic compound
    Publication . Duque, Anouk F.; Bessa, Vânia S.; Dongen, Udo van; Kreuk, Merle K. de; Mesquita, Raquel B. R.; Rangel, Antonio O. S. S.; Loosdrecht, Mark C. M. van; Castro, Paula M. L.
    The presence of toxic compounds in wastewater can cause problems for organic matter and nutrient removal. In this study, the long-term effect of a model xenobiotic, 2-fluorophenol (2-FP), on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and phosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) in aerobic granular sludge was investigated. Phosphate (P) and ammonium (N) removal efficiencies were high (>93%) and, after bioaugmentation with 2-FP degrading strain FP1, 2-FP was completely degraded. Neither N nor P removal were affected by 50 mg L−1 of 2-FP in the feed stream. Changes in the aerobic granule bacterial communities were followed. Numerical analysis of the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles showed low diversity for the ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene with an even distribution of species. PAOs, including denitrifying PAO (dPAO), and AOB were present in the 2-FP degrading granules, although dPAO population decreased throughout the 444 days reactor operation. The results demonstrated that the aerobic granules bioaugmented with FP1 strain successfully removed N, P and 2-FP simultaneously.
    2021-05-15Journal article Open access Show more