An environmental and economic assessment based on life cycle approaches for industrial wastewater treatment and water recovery

This study aims to define effects of industrial wastewater treatment (IWT) and water recovery (WR) processes by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Life Cycle Cost (ELCC) methodologies. The functional unit was applied as 1 m(3) of treated water. The environmental impacts were evaluated using CML-IA baseline and ReCiPe midpoint (H) impact assessment methods. According to the results, abiotic depletion potential fossil fuel (ADPff) (14.1 %), global warming potential (GWP) (9.6 %), marine ecotoxicity potential (METP) (43.9 %), photochemical oxidation potential (POP) (9.4 %), acidification potential (AP) (16.9 %) are main impact cate-gories for CML-IA whereas human carcinogenic toxicity potential (6.6 %), human non-carcinogenic toxicity potential (6.8 %), and water consumption potential (81.2 %) are those for ReCiPe midpoint (H). The LCA results show that electrical energy is the dominant process with higher than 90 % of these main impacts except METP (17 %). WR process has remarkable benefits from the point of impact categories such as ADP(ff), GWP, POP, and AP. ELCC value of WR process is approximately 20 % higher than that of IWT process. As a conclusion, electricity consumption is the first step of more efficient energy use and the general and local authorities for industrial parks need to create an appropriate energy policy for wastewater treatment plants.

Automated summary

This study examines the effects of industrial wastewater treatment and water recovery processes on the environment using Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Life Cycle Cost methodologies. The results show that the electricity consumption is the main factor impacting the environment, and the water recovery process has significant benefits in reducing certain impact categories. The study suggests that industrial parks should establish appropriate energy policies to improve the energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants.