RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Environmental and economic profile of six typologies of wastewater treatment plants
A1 Rodriguez-Garcia, G.
A1 Molinos-Senante, M.
A1 Hospido, A.
A1 Hernández-Sancho, F.
A1 Moreira, M.T.
A1 Feijoo, G.
AB The objective of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is to prevent pollution. However, it is necessary to assess their sustainability in order to ensure that pollution is being removed, not displaced. In this research, the performance of 24 WWTPs has been evaluated using a streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with Eutrophication Potential (EP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP) as environmental indicators, and operational costs as economic indicators. WWTPs were further classified in six typologies by their quality requirements according to their final discharge point or water reuse. Moreover, twodifferent functional units (FU), one based on volume (m3) and the other on eutrophicationreduction (kg PO43  removed) were used to further determine sustainability. A correlation between legal requirements and technologies used to achieve them was found: Organic matter removal plants were found to be less costly both in environmental and economic terms if volume was used as the functional unit, while more demanding typologies such as reuse plants showed a trade-off between lower EP and higher cost and GWP; however, this is overcome if the second FU is used instead, proving the sustainability of these options and that this FU better reflects the objectives of a WWTP.
SN 0043-1354
YR 2011
FD 2011
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64536
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64536
LA spa
NO Water Research, 2011, vol. 45, n. 18, p. 5997–6010
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 12-jul-2024