Life cycle assessment of solar-driven oxidation as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents
| Main Authors: | Lida Ioannou-Ttofa, Spyros Foteinis, Efthalia Chatzisymeon, Irene Michael-Kordatou, Despo Fatta-Kassinos |
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| Format: | Article Journal |
| Terbitan: |
, 2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/5109282 |
Daftar Isi:
- BACKGROUND: In this work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is utilized to estimate the environmental footprint of solar Fenton oxidation at pilot scale used as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents. All inputs (e.g. natural resources, raw materials, etc.) and outputs (e.g. emissions, etc.) of the process were quantitatively defined and/or estimated. The system under study includes raw materials, energy, land use, chemicals, local transportation needs, and air-/waterborne emissions. RESULTS: The main environmental hotspots of this system were identified (i.e. energy consumption and use of chemicals). The environmental sustainability of this technology was found to be high, since its environmental footprint for the treatment of 1 m3 of wastewater was found to be only 8.7 kg CO2 m−3 , which is approx. 1.6% of the total CO2 emissions of the treatment of the daily effluents of a Cypriot resident. Nevertheless, alternative scenarios were investigated, in order to further enhance its overall environmental performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the majority of the environmental impacts of this process could be attributed to indirect emissions, tracing back to electricity generation, followed by emissions from the chemicals used. The most critical improvement identified herein, is the use of a renewable energy source.
- This work was funded by Nireas, International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus (NEA YΠOΔOMH ΣTPATH/0308/09), which was co-funded by the European Regional Development 15 Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation. The authors are grateful to the manufacturer company of the solar pilot plant, S.K. Euromarket Ltd, for providing technical support.