Multi-objective comparison of conventional and emerging wastewater treatment processes based on simulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Autor: Sun, Chaoyu, Mao, Siyuan, Zhao, Wenya, Chen, Yasong, Cao, Xin, Tian, Tuo, Ma, Xueyan, Li, Bing, Qiu, Yong
Zdroj: Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering; March 2025, Vol. 19 Issue: 3
Abstrakt: Reducing pollution and carbon emissions is an important direction for wastewater treatment plants to achieve sustainability. This study established a comprehensive evaluation system based on three indicators, namely, effluent quality index (EQI), operating cost index (OCI), and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), to systematically compare traditional and emerging wastewater treatment processes. Fourteen kinds of wastewater treatment processes under six inflow and outflow scenarios were simulated using GPS-X software. EQI calculations show that biofilm processes such as biological aerated filter (AO-BAF) achieve the best effluent quality under various scenarios, with a removal value of 2.28 kg EQI/m3. OCI calculations reveal that the average proportions of chemical addition, electricity usage costs, and sludge transportation costs for all processes are 47.69%, 24.62%, and 27.69% respectively, with anammox processes having the lowest OCI (0.047 $/m3)) for the baseline scenario. Carbon emission accounting results showed that direct emissions of CH4from wastewater treatment, indirect emissions of electricity and chemicals were the main sources of GHG. Finally, through non-dominated sorting considering EQI, OCI and GHG indices, AO-BAF and AAO-VMBR processes were the preferred processes for most scenarios. This study provides valuable insights for the selection and upgrading of wastewater treatment processes from a low-carbon perspective.
Databáze: Supplemental Index
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