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Study of the Potential for Energy Use of Biogas From a Wastewater Treatment Plant To a Medium-Sized City: A Technical, Economic and Environmental Analysis

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Abstract

Waste treatment is an essential activity with critical environmental, social, and sanitary impacts. As energy demand grows, linking wastewater treatment to electrical energy production through biogas from anaerobic digestion becomes an attractive alternative from both technical and economic perspectives. In light of this scenario, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of generating energy from two anaerobic processes: digestion using Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) technology, as well as sewage sludge from an activated sludge processing system (ASPS). The study also encompasses an environmental assessment of the reduced impact generated by replacing electricity from the grid with biogas energy. Results demonstrate financial feasibility for both processes; the UASB reactor and the ASPS presented NPV of 5.88 MR$ and 9.02 MR$, IRR of 17.1% and positive cash flow from the 10th year for both technologies, respectively. With regard to emission reductions, replacing electricity from the grid with biogas electricity lowered greenhouse gas generation by 3,316.8 tCO2eq/year and 5,092.7 tCO2eq/year for the UASB and ASPS operations, respectively. As a result, activated sludge digestion proved more attractive according to the parameters analyzed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Coordinator of the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES; in Portuguese) for the given support, evidenced by the translation service resources (by PROAP/CAPES resources) and Finance Code 001 – Doctorate scholarship granted to Ivan Felipe Silva dos Santos and Flavio Ferreira de Freitas and to Federal University of Itajubá for granting the Master Science Scholarships to Ulisses Raad Coelho by institutional scholarship program. The authors would like to thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq; in Portuguese), for granting productivity in research scholarship to Prof. Regina Mambeli Barros (PQ1D Process Number 303036/2021-4 and PQ2, Process number: 303805/2018-8), to Prof. Electo Eduardo Silva Lora (PQ1A), and Prof Geraldo Lúcio Tiago Filho. We would like to thank the Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, FAPEMIG, in Portuguese) for granting financial support “Improvement of biogas energy potential from anaerobic (co)digestion of solid organic waste as an incentive to renewable energy sources: substrate pre-treatment and co(digestion) aiming at Hydrogen use” (Process N.: APQ-00568-21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctorate in Environment and Hydric Resources at UNIFEI, and Engineering of Energy, GEER – Renewable Energy Group, Federal University of Itajubá, (Engenharia da Energia da Universidade Federal de Itajubá), UNIFEI, Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Flávio Ferreira Freitas

  2. Master of Science in Environment and Hydric Resources, Natural Resources Institute, Federal University of Itajubá (Meio Ambiente E Recursos Hídricos, Instituto de Recursos Naturais da Universidade Federal de Itajubá), Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Ulisses Raad Coelho & Sara Talita Sales Silva

  3. Master of Science in Electric Engineering, Institute of Electric Engineering, Federal University of Itajubá (Mestrado Em Engenharia Elétrica, Instituto de Engenharia Elétrica da Universidade Federal de Itajubá), Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Andresa Aparecida Lemes Gomes

  4. GEER – Renewable Energy Group, Natural Resources Institute, Federal University of Itajubá, Instituto de Recursos Naturais da Universidade Federal de Itajubá), Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Regina Mambeli Barros & Geraldo Lúcio Tiago Filho

  5. Mechanical Engineering Institute – IEM, Excellence Group in Thermal Power and Distributed Generation (NEST), Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI), Minas Gerais, Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Electo Eduardo Silva Lora

  6. Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at UNIFEI, and Engineering of Energy, Federal University of Itajubá, UNIFEI, Av. BPS, 1303, Itajubá-MG, 37500-903, Brazil

    Ivan Felipe Silva dos Santos

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  1. Flávio Ferreira Freitas
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  2. Ulisses Raad Coelho
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Correspondence to Regina Mambeli Barros.

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Freitas, F.F., Coelho, U.R., Silva, S.T.S. et al. Study of the Potential for Energy Use of Biogas From a Wastewater Treatment Plant To a Medium-Sized City: A Technical, Economic and Environmental Analysis. Waste Biomass Valor 13, 3509–3521 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-022-01727-8

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