LIGHT GREEN EGGS - LGE BASE

LGE BASE TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

The LGE BASE technology is the simplest technology for dividing fresh alfalfa into its main components using only electricity obtained from a photovoltaic system. The system is schematized in the following diagram:

LGE BASE DIAGRAM

PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY

The LGE BASE technology involves six main phases:

1. Cutting and harvesting of the green product;

2. Transporting the alfalfa to the plant;

3. Conditioning and pressing of the alfalfa;

4. Filtration and drying of the fibrous fraction at moderate temperatures;

5. Purification and drying of the protein extracts;

6. Fertilizer concentration.

All these activities are carried out using electricity generated by an integrated photovoltaic system, so the process is called "solar fractionation."

The minimum plant size is capable of processing 10 tons/day of fresh alfalfa, equivalent to 1,500 tons/year on an annual basis.

The integrated photovoltaic system can guarantee 90-95% of the energy needed for the planned processes and, when the plant is not operating, supplies energy to the grid. It is estimated that over 51% of the energy produced by the plant can be sold to the grid annually.

With the LGE BASE systems, from the treatment of 10 tons of green alfalfa, 1,020 kg of dried forage are obtained, equal to 153.9 tons of dried forage on an annual basis.

The fresh alfalfa is delivered to the plant immediately after harvesting, unloaded into special tanks and immediately sent for pressing and solar fractionation.

Immediately after pressing, the fibrous fraction is sent to a heat pump drying system which allows it to reach a value of AW <65.

For the purposes of this study:

· a moisture content of 12% was estimated in the finished product, which was also stored in bulk;

· a protein content equal to 19.91% of the DM of the finished product was estimated.

In the BASE version of the LGE process, the juice obtained from the first pressing/filtration is fractionated using filtration techniques, thermo-mechanical purification and drying treatments.

This version of the fractionation generates, for 1000 kg of dried forage LGE Base:

· 299,4 kg of mixed protein meal (52.35% protein content on DM, 5% moisture);

· 4.720,3 kg of liquid fertilizer at 3% DM, with a protein content of 28% (N = 4.48%) on DM;

· 1.089,9 kg of purified liquid water to be used in other company processes;

· 2.544,9 kg of water vapor.

In the following table the project objectives for the technology are compared with the results achieved:

The technology's overall energy consumption is higher than project objectives, but this was among the expected risks: to address this issue, it is sufficient to plan for an integrated photovoltaic system of a slightly larger size than initially planned.

LGE BASE technology allows a strong reduction in the environmental impacts linked to the production of dried alfalfa fodder and its co-products. The results of the potential environmental impacts are obtained using the Environmental Footprint method (v 3.1). This is the impact assessment method developed by the European Commission for use in the context of the Environmental Footprint (EfF) initiative. To perform a complete evaluation it is necessary to compare some combinations of products. We can consider 5 process combinations:

- The LGE EVO process that generates forage, fertilizer, green protein meal and white protein concentrate (which can replace both vegetable and animal proteins);

- The LGE Base process that generates forage, fertilizer and mixed protein meal;

- The AIFE + FERT + SOY FLOUR process generates forage, organic fertilizer and raw soybean meal, the same outputs as the LGE Base process;

- The AIFE + FERT + CONC SOY + SOY FLOUR process generates forage, organic fertilizer, soy protein concentrate and raw soy flour, the same outputs as the LGE EVO process with vegetable protein replacement;

- The AIFE + FERT + CONSUME EGG + SOY FLOUR process generates forage, fertilizer, eggs for consumption and raw soy flour, the same outputs as the LGE EVO process with the replacement of animal proteins.

The overall impacts of these 5 combinations are summarized in the following diagram:

This overall comparison highlights the significant reduction in impact associated with the adoption of LGE processes, particularly the LGE EVO process, for all categories except RU-m (Resource use, Minerals and metals). .

The EF weighting allows you to aggregate the 5 combinations into a single overall parameter:

These data clearly highlight the environmental benefits of adopting the LGE process for dried forage production. Particularly notable is the significant reduction in environmental impacts resulting from replacing egg proteins with those obtained from alfalfa, thanks to the LGE EVO process.

It is also widely known that replacing animal proteins with plant proteins significantly reduces environmental impacts, but the effectiveness of the LGE EVO process is also highlighted when compared with the replacement of soy concentrate, with a nearly 30% reduction in environmental impacts.

For a better understanding of the reduction of impacts it is necessary to focus on three fundamental parameters for agricultural and livestock activities, using the data collected during the characterization phase:

The following tables show the possible reductions in impacts resulting from the production of 1000 kg of dried fodder with the LGE BASE process for the three categories:

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