Carbon footprint of drinking water softening as determined by life cycle assessment
| Autor: | O.J.I. Kramer, Mart Beeftink, Albert van der Wal, Ingrid Odegard, Bas Hofs |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
020209 energy
Strategy and Management Attributional life cycle assessment chemistry.chemical_element 02 engineering and technology Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Softening 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Drinking water Reverse osmosis Life-cycle assessment 0505 law General Environmental Science WIMEK Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment 05 social sciences Water storage Environmental engineering Carbon footprint Water softening chemistry 050501 criminology Environmental Technology Environmental science Milieutechnologie Nanofiltration Carbon |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Cleaner Production, 278 Journal of Cleaner Production 278 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 0959-6526 |
| Popis: | In the Netherlands, central softening of drinking water is widely applied for reasons of public health, client comfort, economic and environmental benefits. Currently, the detrimental contributions of softening, in particular the use of chemicals and energy, are taken into account in the carbon footprint of the Dutch drinking water companies. The beneficial contributions have, however, until now not been included in the carbon footprint. Here, we present an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) for the softening of drinking water, including effects at the household level and several sensitivity analyses. Five central softening methods were included (pellet reactor (PR), water storage reservoir (WSR), reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF) and ion exchange (IEX)). Domestic softening by IEX is represented as well. Central softening, except RO, is shown to reduce the carbon footprint when effects at the household level are included. The main detrimental contributions are caused by the consumption of chemicals and energy in the softening process. The main beneficial contributions of softened water with respect to the carbon footprint are at the household level. Decreases in water hardness result in reduced scaling and give rise to a prolonged lifespan of appliances in which water is heated, reduced energy use of those appliances and less required cleaning agents. For PR and WSR a new beneficial effect was identified; carbon capture in the crystallized calcite and dissolution of CO2 into the softened water. We show that for the Dutch water companies Evides and Waternet approximately 20% and 60%, respectively, of their total carbon footprint is compensated by the net carbon benefit of softening. The net total carbon footprint of drinking water softening in the Netherlands is estimated to be −0.11 Mtonne CO2 eq./yr. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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