A life cycle approach to environmental assessment of wastewater and sludge treatment processes

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for determining a product or a process's environmental effects. In this study, LCA evaluates the critical sources of environmental impacts in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative LCA of four wastewater treatm...

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Published inWater and environment journal : WEJ Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 412 - 424
Main Authors Patel, Kulvendra, Singh, Santosh Kumar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2022
Subjects
Activated sludge
Activated sludge process
Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic processes
Anaerobic treatment
Artificial wetlands
Batch reactors
batch systems
computer software
electricity
energy
Energy consumption
Energy recovery
environment
Environmental assessment
Environmental effects
Environmental impact
Environmental Impact Assessment
Evaluation
global warming potential
Impact analysis
Life cycle
Life cycle analysis
Life cycle assessment
Life cycles
Reactors
sequential batch reactor
Simapro
Sludge
Sludge digestion
Sludge treatment
upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor
wastewater
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
water
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Summary:Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for determining a product or a process's environmental effects. In this study, LCA evaluates the critical sources of environmental impacts in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative LCA of four wastewater treatment (WWT) methods: activated sludge process, sequential batch reactor, constructed wetlands, and up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket, including the sludge treatment methods: anaerobic digestion (AD), AD with pretreatment, lime stabilization (LS), and LS with energy recovery. Environmental impacts are analysed using the IMPACT 2002+ approach and Simapro 9.1 software using the Ecoinventv3.6 database. The study result shows that the sequential batch reactor has the highest environmental effects because of its high energy consumption. Electricity used for treatment is the primary contributor to environmental impacts. The study helps in evaluating the potential environmental impacts corresponding to a WWTP and identifying the hotspots associated with the process.
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ISSN:1747-6585
1747-6593
DOI:10.1111/wej.12774