An economic appraisal of using source separation of human urine to contain and treat endocrine disrupters in the USA

Abstract

Elevated concentrations of estrogens in natural waters pose a significant threat to public health and aquatic ecosystems. Both natural (estrone, 17β-estradiol and estriol) and synthetic (17α ethynylestradiol) estrogens, ubiquitous in wastewater effluents and receiving waters, have been shown to affect the endocrine system of human and aquatic life. The effects vary from cancer to sex reversals at levels as low as parts per trillion in sensitive organisms. Separation of urine, which constitutes only about 1% of domestic sewage and contains nearly all of the excreted estrogens, potentially offers an energy-efficient way to contain and then treat these chemicals. With a capital expense of $2100 and operation and maintenance costs of $69 per year for a urine diverting toilet system, a family in the USA can realize estimated savings of $101 per year in energy, water, and nutrients and a decrease of 100 kg in greenhouse gas emissions. To remove 99% of estrogenicity in discharged waters would require approximately 12 kW h per year using continuous electrodialysis followed by ozonation (O(3)) of source separated urine. To achieve the same results by adding O(3) treatment after activated sludge at existing municipal wastewater treatment plants would require 23 kW h per year. From an energy standpoint it makes sense to practice source separation and treatment of urine to limit estrogen discharges into the environment.

Life cycle assessment and costing of urine source separation: Focus on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug removal

“…Furthermore, struvite precipitation of source separated urine reduces nutrient emissions, offsets commercial fertilizer production, and reduces cadmium emissions due to commercial fertilizers. These results are similar to other LCA studies that found that potable water savings, electricity savings, reduction in nutrient loading, and reduced cadmium emissions from commercial fertilizers in the environment are major benefits gained from urine source separation (Berndtsson, 2006, Ishii and Boyer, 2015, Lam et al, 2015, Lamichhane and Babcock, 2012, Ronteltap et al, 2007. Results of the Monte Carlo simulation indicate that uncertainty does not affect the overall trends for the total environmental impact, where AWWT and BWWT,O3 have greater observed environmental impact compared with the urine source separation and the vacuum sewer scenarios had the largest impact among the source separation scenarios.…”

“…Human urine is the primary contributor of pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewater but only constitutes 1% of the total volumetric flow (Joss et al, 2005, Larsen andGujer, 1996). Urine source separation has been proposed as a more efficient method to remove and/or destroy pharmaceuticals as opposed to centralized biological wastewater treatment because pharmaceuticals are present at much higher concentrations in undiluted urine (Lamichhane and Babcock, 2012). In addition, human urine contributes 80% of the nitrogen (N) and 50% of the phosphorus (P), indicating separate 32 treatment of urine may have significant impacts on centralized wastewater treatment (Larsen and 33 Gujer, 1996).…”

Ion-exchange selectivity of diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and naproxen in ureolyzed human urine

“…Approximately 70% of ingested pharmaceuticals intended for human use are excreted in urine as either the parent compound or its metabolites (Lienert et al, 2007a). For this reason, urine sourceseparation and treatment is a proposed method to reduce pharmaceutical loading to the environment by diverting undiluted urine from domestic wastewater (Lamichhane and Babcock, 2012). Urine source-separation and treatment is also of interest as an alternative approach to address excess nitrogen and phosphorus loading to aquatic systems (Larsen et al, 2009).…”

Diclofenac removal in urine using strong-base anion exchange polymer resins

“…For instance, w70% of consumed pharmaceuticals were excreted in human urine as the active ingredient and metabolites (Lienert et al, 2007b). Accordingly, source separation of human urine has been proposed to decrease the load of pharmaceuticals to wastewater plants and the environment (Lamichhane and Babcock, 2012) as well as produce urine-derived fertilizer (Kirchmann and Pettersson, 1995). The basis for urine source separation is that the excreted pharmaceuticals are present at much higher concentrations in undiluted urine than domestic wastewater (Winker et al, 2008a) and thus can be treated more efficiently.…”