| Popis: |
Concerning the development of small hydropower in existing wet infrastructures such as drinking water, wastewater, and irrigation, water networks represent a convenient potential of energy recovery [1]. The benefts and simplifcations of these facilities compared to river-type hydropower plants could be summarized as follows: (i) all infrastructure access are present, which will reduce the investment cost and risk considerably, (ii) the facility has a guaranteed discharge through the year, (iii) the generated electricity will be used at the infrastructure system and the excess electricity can be sold to the government, (iv) there is no land acquisition and signifcant operating costs (Fig.1), and (v) since the hydropower potential is a function of the available discharge and head, the required data (i.e., discharge, head, fow duration curve) are usually well-known [2, 3]. For instance, Samra wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Jordan is an example for electricity production from wastewaters before and after the wastewater treatment plant. The four hydro turbines installed at Samra WWTP will generate 21GWh/year electric energy which has an important environmental beneft as Jordan generates its electricity mainly from oil. This production is estimated to avoid the emission of more than 17,000tons CO2 per year. Also, the facility covers the 98% of Amman city electricity consumption by using the biogas and hydropower (both at inlet and outlet) energies together [4].Wastewater treatment plants consume large amounts of electric energy. Chen and Chen [6] reported that wastewater treatment is estimated to use around 3–5% of the total electrical energy load in developed and developing countries around the world. Moreover, Cakir [7] reported that artifcial aeration process is alone responsible for half of the total energy cost in a wastewater plant. |
