RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Comparing the efficiency of wastewater treatment technologies through a DEA metafrontier model
A1 Sala-Garrido, R.
A1 Molinos-Senante, M.
A1 Hernández-Sancho, F.
AB The assessment of economic and technical efficiency is a useful tool to select the most appropriate technology for wastewater treatment. However, traditional models require that the units being assessedoperate with the same technology. To overcome this limitation, we investigate the viability of using anon-concave metafrontier approach that is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to calculate thetechno-economic efficiency and technological gap ratios (TGRs) of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)operating with non-homogeneous technologies. The model is applied to a sample of 99 Spanish WWTPs,encompassing four alternative technologies: activated sludge; aerated lagoon; trickling filter; and rotating biological contactor. The results indicate that mean efficiencies are relatively high and uniform acrossthe different technologies. Furthermore, analysis of TGR values shows that techno-economic efficiencyis optimal for WWTPs operating with activated sludge in comparison with the other technologies. Ourstudy shows the importance of quantitatively comparing the efficiency of WWTPs that use differenttechnologies in order to help managers make informed decisions when selecting the most appropriatetechnology.
SN 1385-8947
YR 2011
FD 2011
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64539
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/64539
LA spa
NO Chemical Engineering Journal, 2011, vol. 173, n. 3, p. 766–772.
DS UVaDOC
RD 25-nov-2024