Resource use efficiency: Developing a generic framework for protein production systems and its application on dairy and fish
Maria Ignacia Rodriguez Escobar,
Erasmo Cadena,
Trang T. Nhu,
Sophie Huysveld,
Stefaan De Smet,
Jo Dewulf
Affiliations
Maria Ignacia Rodriguez Escobar
Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Corresponding author.
Erasmo Cadena
Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Trang T. Nhu
Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Sophie Huysveld
Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Stefaan De Smet
Laboratory for Animal Nutrition and Animal Product Quality, Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Jo Dewulf
Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Resource use efficiency has become increasingly important as the global demand for natural resources continues to grow, necessitating innovative and sustainable utilization strategies. Despite the availability of tools to quantify resource use and environmental impacts, an integrated assessment of total resource use efficiency remains underdeveloped. Addressing this gap, particularly within the context of the protein transition from animal-based to plant-based sources, this work introduces a novel resource efficiency framework. This framework advances current environmental assessments by enabling the precise calculation of efficiency in protein production processes and process chains based on comprehensive resource utilization metrics. It uniquely incorporates the nature of process inputs, including their renewability and circularity, and supports both foreground and life cycle perspectives at the process and process chain levels. To demonstrate its applicability, two case studies—fish and dairy production systems—are evaluated using exergy and mass analyses.
