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Life Cycle and Economic Assessments of Key Emerging Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment Processes for Climate Change Adaptation

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Abstract

New emerging wastewater treatment technologies like bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) and membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have been introduced in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for producing energy and treating urban wastewater. This study compares WWTPs that combine new emerging technologies of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), microbial fuel cells (MFCs), and microbial electrolysis (MEC) with the conventional techniques (anaerobic, anoxic, and oxic, A2O). The environmental and economic impacts of the combined emerging treatment technologies are evaluated. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and economic assessment of the total cost considering both capital and operating cost are performed to evaluate the environmental and economic impacts, respectively. The environmental impact evaluation demonstrated that A2O + MBR and A2O + MFC processes are the most environmentally friendly processes in the construction and operation stages, respectively. Detailed analyses of the dominant environmental impact categories showed that the total volume for the construction stage, the effluent quality, and methane emission for the operation stage are important parameters. The results of economic impact showed that A2O and A2O + MFC processes have the lowest capital cost and operational cost, respectively. Furthermore, it can be inferred that A2O + MFC is the most economic process based on total economic impact, which included both the capital and the operational cost over 20 years. The proposed method provided guidance on the use of economical and environmentally friendly emerging techniques in WWTPs.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (No. No. 2017R1E1A1A03070713).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Center for Environmental Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon-dong 1, Giheung-gu, Yongin-Si, 446-701, Korea

    Jouan Rashidi, GaHee Rhee, Minhyun Kim, KiJeon Nam, Sungku Heo & ChangKyoo Yoo

  2. School of Environment, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Abdolreza Karbassi

Authors
  1. Jouan Rashidi
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  2. GaHee Rhee
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  3. Minhyun Kim
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  4. KiJeon Nam
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  5. Sungku Heo
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  6. ChangKyoo Yoo
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  7. Abdolreza Karbassi
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to ChangKyoo Yoo or Abdolreza Karbassi.

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Jouan Rashidi and GaHee Rhee have equal collaboration.

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Rashidi, J., Rhee, G., Kim, M. et al. Life Cycle and Economic Assessments of Key Emerging Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment Processes for Climate Change Adaptation. Int J Environ Res 12, 815–827 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-018-0135-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-018-0135-6

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