| Abstract | Wastewater treatment facilities are increasingly being considered as centralized installations where various resources can be recovered from the sewage. Novel technological solutions are already available for achieving this goal. However, their application to upgrade existing plants can be far more challenging than building new dedicated plants. While the scientific literature is generally focused on testing and comparing the recovery options, this work was aimed at giving a holistic evaluation of the actual impacts of upgrading existing facilities. Commercially available systems were considered for retrofitting two plants of different size (50,000 and 500,000 population equivalents) and achieving either energy self-sufficiency or material recovery. Based on mass and energy balances, a detailed evaluation of technical, social, economic, and administrative aspects was carried out. Environmental aspects were also included, adopting a simplified approach. It turned out that energy self-sufficiency (external energy supply reduced down to about 10% of the total need) is not far away to be achieved, with moderate techno-economic implications, especially when the plant is already equipped with primary sedimentation and anaerobic digestion. Integral recovery of treated effluent, sludge and nitrogen can also be pursued in large facilities, while several potential criticalities arise for medium-sized plants. The adopted procedure evidenced critical aspects that are often disregarded in the decision process: this may suggest where to address efforts in evaluating real situations. |
| Text | 382000 2018 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.228 Scopus 2 s2.0 85031912019 ISI Web of Science WOS 000414879300107 Costs Decision making process Energy/mass balance Feasibility Municipal wastewater Resources Towards energy self sufficiency and integral material recovery in waste water treatment plants Assessment of upgrading options Bertanza G.; Canato M.; Laera G. University of Brescia, Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Land, Environment and Mathematics, via Branze 43, Brescia, 25123, Italy; University of Pavia, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, via Ferrata 1, Pavia, 27100, Italy; CNR Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque, viale De Blasio 5, Bari, 70132, Italy Wastewater treatment facilities are increasingly being considered as centralized installations where various resources can be recovered from the sewage. Novel technological solutions are already available for achieving this goal. However, their application to upgrade existing plants can be far more challenging than building new dedicated plants. While the scientific literature is generally focused on testing and comparing the recovery options, this work was aimed at giving a holistic evaluation of the actual impacts of upgrading existing facilities. Commercially available systems were considered for retrofitting two plants of different size 50,000 and 500,000 population equivalents and achieving either energy self sufficiency or material recovery. Based on mass and energy balances, a detailed evaluation of technical, social, economic, and administrative aspects was carried out. Environmental aspects were also included, adopting a simplified approach. It turned out that energy self sufficiency external energy supply reduced down to about 10% of the total need is not far away to be achieved, with moderate techno economic implications, especially when the plant is already equipped with primary sedimentation and anaerobic digestion. Integral recovery of treated effluent, sludge and nitrogen can also be pursued in large facilities, while several potential criticalities arise for medium sized plants. The adopted procedure evidenced critical aspects that are often disregarded in the decision process this may suggest where to address efforts in evaluating real situations. 170 Published version https //doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.228 2018 JCP 170, 1206 1218 Bertanza et al Versione pubblicata dall Editore 2018 JCP 170, 1206 1218 Bertanza et al.pdf 2018 JCP 170, 1206 1218 Bertanza et al Supporting Information Versione pubblicata dall Editore 2018 JCP 170, 1206 1218 Bertanza et al Supp Info.pdf Articolo in rivista Butterworth Heinemann, 0959 6526 Journal of cleaner production Journal of cleaner production J. clean. prod. Journal of cleaner production. giuseppe.laera LAERA GIUSEPPE |
