Strategy based on life cycle assessment for telemetric monitoring of an aquaponics system

Abstract

An aquaponics process monitored by a telemetric system is studied. The objective was to determine the environmental impact of the whole process using life cycle assessment (LCA) in order to design a strategy for a sustainable management of the crops. The studied system includes aquaponics (integrated raising of Oreochromis niloticus (tilapia) and Lactuca sativa (lettuce) is considered), a monitoring system (drone), and telemetrics (data processing system). The functional unit was: 1 monitoring unit for aquaponics. The inventory was built from information provided by the enterprise owner of the system and official electricity and water data. The assessment was performed using the software openLCA v.1.10.3, the method CML baseline v.4.4.4, and the databases ELCD v.3.2 and Agribalyse v3.0.1. Based on the results of the LCA, a management strategy was proposed to reduce the environmental load, which is mainly due to nutrient recirculation, water pumping, and the number of drone flights. It was concluded that improving the three factors a reduction of 10 %, 10 %, and 60 % on average, respectively, can be achieved.