Financial assessment of an in-farm remediation system for the reuse of agro-wastewater with pesticides

• Published in: Agricultural water management Vol. 256; p. 107087
• Main Authors: Contreras, F., Garrido, I., Hellín, P., Flores, P., García, J., Navarro-Pay, N., Navarro, S., Fenoll, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2021
• Subjects: Agro-wastewater reuse; Financial assessment; Pesticides; Pilot plant; Solar photocatalysis; Agro-wastewater reuse; Solar photocatalysis; Pilot plant; Pesticides; Financial assessment
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107087

A pilot equipment (Aquemfree) was developed and tested for the remediation and reuse of agro-wastewater with pesticides derived from the remnants, cleaning, and rinse of phytosanitary equipment and packaging, through a photocatalytic process using TiO2/Na2S2O8 and sunlight. The purpose of this work is the assessment of the economic sustainability of the Aquemfree system, studying four pilot devices on representative farms of Mediterranean crops and their impact on the cost structure of each crop. Two cases per farm were established: pilot devices equipped with a 200 L (Aquemfree 200) or a 400 L (Aquemfree 400) reaction tank. Pesticide degradation varied between 82.4% and 97.8%. As for financial assessment, the large importance of the fixed costs (81%) involves a faster amortisation for a higher frequency of use, whose maximisation depends on radiation threshold: 30 cycles per year. Financial indicators related to the equipment capacity show cost reductions of 31% for the bigger device, verifying the economies of scale. The impact of the system use involves a low increase (0.24–0.05%) of the crop production costs, corresponding fewer values to crops with higher production costs. The potential farm area of application of an Aquemfree 200 device is very large (160 ha for trees and 53–63.6 ha for greenhouses), and doubled by Aquemfree 400. In conclusion, Aquemfree has a high remediation performance and a low financial impact on intensive crop production costs. Due to its economies of scale, it is recommended the use of higher capacity devices, either for big farms, or to be shared by several farmers, establishing a combination of a portable compact device and wastewater storing tanks in the farms. •The Aquemfree system uses solar photocatalysis for remediating agro-wastewater.•Aquemfree removes 82.4–97.8% of the pesticide content in agro-wastewater.•The financial impact of Aquemfree on intensive crop production costs is very low.•Fixed costs have a major weight (81%) on the total costs of Aquemfree.•Aquemfree system is a representative case of economies of scale.