Life Cycle Assessment as Decision Support Tool forDevelopment of a Ressource Recovery Technology (original) (raw)

In a novel approach, we use life cycle assessment (LCA) to support early stage research and development of a biochemical system for wastewater resource recovery (TRENS system, (12). To this end, we combined the use of conventional activated sludge models (ASM-2d, (8); ASM-A, (12)) with environmental assessment models (EASETECH, (2)). The chosen scenario in the LCA study considers TRENS as a side-stream process implemented in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Copenhagen, Denmark. TRENS reduces global warming up to 15% and marine eutrophication impacts up to 9% compared to conventional treatment. This is due to the TRENS system’s lower greenhouse gas emissions, as well as nutrient recovery. The key environmental concerns obtained through the LCA are linked to increased human toxicity impacts from the chosen end use of TRENS products. The toxicity impacts are from heavy metals release associated with land application of recovered wastewater nutrients. Our study provided...

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