Prospective life cycle assessment for the full valorization of anchovy fillet leftovers: The LimoFish process

Prospective life cycle assessment models were developed and applied at the laboratory and industrial scale withthe aim to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with the LimoFish process used to produce the fish oil"AnchoiOil", the new organic fertilizer "AnchoisFert" or biogas (by means of anaerobic digestion) after treatmentof anchovy fillet leftovers (AnLeft) with agro-solvent d-limonene. Potential impacts for climate change andfreshwater eutrophication were estimated at 29.1 kg CO2 eq/kg AnLeft and 1.7E- 07 kg PO4 eq/kg AnLeft atlaboratory scale, and at 1.5 kg CO2 eq/kg AnLeft and 2.2E- 07 kg PO4 eq/kg AnLeft at industrial scale. Electricityconsumption is the main contributor to the environmental impact of the process and plays a significant role in theproduction of d-limonene, for which cold pressing extraction would reduce the related impacts by ~ 70 %. Theuse of the solid by-product as organic fertilizer or input to anaerobic digestion would provide additional environmental benefits to the process. The LimoFish process is a successful example of a low impacting strategy toreduce the demand for natural resources and maximize the application of the circular economy principles in thefishing industry.