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Technical, hygiene, economic, and life cycle assessment of full-scale moving bed biofilm reactors for wastewater treatment in India

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Abstract

Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is a highly effective biological treatment process applied to treat both urban and industrial wastewaters in developing countries. The present study investigated the technical performance of ten full-scale MBBR systems located across India. The biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solid, pathogens, and nutrient removal efficiencies were low as compared to the values claimed in literature. Plant 1 was considered for evaluation of environmental impacts using life cycle assessment approach. CML 2 baseline 2000 methodology was adopted, in which 11 impact categories were considered. The life cycle impact assessment results revealed that the main environmental hot spot of this system was energy consumption. Additionally, two scenarios were compared: scenario 1 (direct discharge of treated effluent, i.e., no reuse) and scenario 2 (effluent reuse and tap water replacement). The results showed that scenario 2 significantly reduce the environmental impact in all the categories ultimately decreasing the environmental burden. Moreover, significant economic and environmental benefits can be obtained in scenario 2 by replacing the freshwater demand for non-potable uses. To enhance the performance of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), there is a need to optimize energy consumption and increase wastewater collection efficiency to maximize the operating capacity of plant and minimize overall environmental footprint. It was concluded that MBBR can be a good alternative for upgrading and optimizing existing municipal wastewater treatment plants with appropriate tertiary treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the European Union (EU) for providing financial support for the study. The authors would also like to thank the plant management teams of all the plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Safety and Environmental Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, India

    Anju Singh

  2. Environmental Engineering and Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, India

    Sheetal Jaisingh Kamble

  3. Supporting Consolidation, Replication and Upscaling of Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technologies in India (SARASWATI), National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, India

    Megha Sawant & Yogita Chakravarthy

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    Absar Kazmi

  5. Environmental Engineering Unit of CEIT, San Sebastian, Spain

    Enrique Aymerich

  6. Competence Centre for Decision Aid in Environmental Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria

    Markus Starkl

  7. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

    Makarand Ghangrekar

  8. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, India

    Ligy Philip

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  1. Anju Singh
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Correspondence to Sheetal Jaisingh Kamble.

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Singh, A., Kamble, S.J., Sawant, M. et al. Technical, hygiene, economic, and life cycle assessment of full-scale moving bed biofilm reactors for wastewater treatment in India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 2552–2569 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0605-y

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