Life cycle assessment of nature-based coagulant production: Light and dark sides of the freeze-drying process

作者：Sanja Cojbasic, Boris Agarski, Djordje Vukelić, Maja Turk Sekulić, Sabolč Pap, M. Perović, Jelena Prodanović · 发表于：Industrial Crops and Products · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.120699 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Freezing and Crystallization Processes、Wastewater Treatment and Reuse

Different review articles published in the last several years highlighted an importance and benefits of biocoagulants/bioflocculants utilisation in water and wastewater treatment as an eco-friendly and non-toxic alternative to currently used commercial ones. Although there is many research on various types of biocoagulants/bioflocculants (animal-, microorganism- and plant-based ones), there is still a significant knowledge gap which limits their utilisation at large scale. In order to achieve optimised solution several production options should be evaluated and compared in terms of their simplicity, economic viability, ecological impacts and their efficiency. When compared, these characteristics could lead to easier decision making and developing biocoagulant/bioflocculants with optimal eco-design . In order to compare 4 coagulant production processes for novel biocoagulant production (from common bean seed – Phaseolus vulgaris ), life cycle assessment, cost analysis and performance within wastewater treatment were conducted in this study, while simplicity of each design is indicated as well. 4 distinct powdered coagulants were denoted as: KNO (conventional solid/liquid extraction with NaCl solution, spray dried), UNO (ultrasound extraction with NaCl solution, spray dried), GA (ultrasound extraction with NaCl solution, spray dried with gum Arabic as a carrier) and UVO (ultrasound extraction with distilled water, freeze dried). Based on the defined functional unit, KNO coagula...