Identifying environmental hotspots of fertilizers produced from fish and mollusc waste

To explore alternatives to mineral fertilizers, a pilot facility producing fertilizer from Adriatic fish and mollusk sidestreams was developed. It involves different production stages: the mechanical treatment of raw materials, a subsequent hydrolysis and a concentration step (Figure 1). A life cycle assessment (LCA) identified the main environmental hotspots of this fertilizer production regarding climate change, acidification and eutrophication: production of enzymes for hydrolysis, energy use during the concentration step and packaging.