Comparative life cycle assessment of water treatment plants

Bonton, Alexandre; Bouchard, Christian; Barbeau, Benoît; Jedrzejak, Stéphane

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2011.08.035

Cited by 176 publications

(130 citation statements)

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“…These studies have increasingly gained more attention as they have been applied to the processes of potable water treatment plants in developed and developing countries (Kulay et al, 2015;Ahmadi and Tiruta-Barna 2015;Bonton et. al., 2012;Hyunju et al, 2015;Igos et al, 2013;Meneses et al, 2010;Pasqualino et al, 2011;Ribera et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of four potable water treatment plants in northeastern Colombia

Ortíz-Rodriguez¹,

Villamizar‐Gallardo²,

García³

2016

Rev. ambiente água

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There is currently great concern about the processes that directly or indirectly contribute to the potential for global warming, such as stratospheric ozone depletion or acidification. In this context, and provided that treated water is a basic public utility in urban centers around the world as well as in some rural areas, its impact on the environment is of great interest. Therefore, this study applied the environmental methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental loads of four potable water treatment plants (PWTPs) located in northeastern Colombia following the international guidelines delineated in ISO 14040. The different stages of the drinking water process were thoroughly assessed, from the catchment point through pumping to the distribution network. The functional unit was defined as 1 m 3 of drinking water produced at the plant. The data were analyzed through the database Ecoinvent v.3.01, and modeled and processed in the software LCA-Data Manager. The results showed that in plants PLA-CA and PLA-PO, the flocculation process has the highest environmental load, which is mostly attributable to the coagulant agent, with a range between 47-73% of the total impact. In plants PLA-TON and PLA-BOS, electricity consumption was identified as the greatest impact source, with percentages ranging from 67 to 85%. Treatment processes and techniques, bioclimatic conditions and culturally driven consumption behavior varied from region to region. Furthermore, changes in treatment processes and techniques are likely to affect the environment during all stages of a plant's operational cycle.Keywords: climate change, environmental impact, treated water. Avaliação do ciclo de vida de quatro estações de tratamento de água potável localizado no nordeste da Colômbia RESUMO Atualmente, existe uma grande preocupação com os processos que direta ou indiretamente contribuem para as alterações climáticas, destruição da camada de ozônio ou acidificação, entre outros impactos ambientais. Neste contexto, e desde que a água tratada constitui um serviço público básico em centros urbanos de todo o mundo e em algumas áreas rurais, o impacto de suas emissões no meio ambiente tem sido considerado de grande interesse. Assim, na pesquisa atual foi aplicada a metodologia ambiental de avaliação do ciclo da vida (LCA) para avaliar os impactos ambientais de quatro estações de tratamento de água potável (PWTPs), localizadas no nordeste da Colômbia seguindo diretrizes internacionais da ISO 14040. As diferentes etapas do processo de purificação a partir do ponto de captação por meio de bombeamento para a rede de distribuição foram completamente avaliadas. A unidade funcional foi definida como 1 m 3 de água potável produzida na fábrica. Os dados foram analisados com base no banco de dados Ecoinvent v.3.01 e processados no software LCAData Manager. Os resultados possibilitaram determinar que em plantas PLA-CA e PLA -POR, o processo de floculação tem a maior carga ambiental, o que é principalmente atribuível ao agente ...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of four potable water treatment plants in northeastern Colombia

Ortíz-Rodriguez¹,

Villamizar‐Gallardo²,

García³

2016

Rev. ambiente água

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“…It has been shown that a nanofiltration process has lower impact on human health and ecosystem quality than conventional water treatment [29]. Waste and emissions are produced from the chemical production, and mining and transports have effect on the ecology and human environment.…”

Section: Assessment Of the Environmental Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The comparison is based on the operation; previous study has shown that 90% of the environmental impact is due to operation and maintenance and the rest from construction [29,32]. Therefore, the construction will not be included, since differences in the construction will have minor influence on the results.…”

Section: Assessment Of the Environmental Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The GHG emissions are calculated in CO 2 -eq/m 3 deliverable water (Table 3), using data from Alvarez-Gaitan et al [38] for all but HCl that was calculated from Leimkühler [39]. According to Bonton et al [29], the nanofilter module replacement leads to 3 g CO 2 -eq/m 3 drinking water. However, this estimation assumes a lifetime of 8-15 years.…”

Section: Assessment Of the Environmental Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From an environmental angle, compared to conventional treatments, and other newer treatment methods, the level of environmental impact from nanofiltration is highly dependent on the choice of settings [29][30][31][32]. There is further dependence on whether the nanofiltration is an additional step in the treatment train [31] or if it replaces existing steps [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feasibility Study of Advanced NOM-Reduction by Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration at a Swedish Surface Water Treatment Plant

Lidén

Persson

2016

Water

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Abstract:Membrane technology, i.e., ultrafiltration and nanofiltration, is growing in popularity, as it is a space efficient alternative for surface water treatment. Two types of hollow fiber membranes were tested in a fully equipped and automated pilot at a Swedish water treatment plant. Raw water was treated by a nanofilter and by coagulation before an ultrafilter. Operation parameters recorded during these trials have been the basis for cost estimations and assessments of environmental impact, comparing the two membrane modules to the existing conventional treatment. The membranes required lower chemical consumption, but led to increased costs from membrane modules and a higher energy demand. Compared to the existing treatment (0.33 €/m 3 ), the operational costs were estimated to increase 6% for ultrafiltration and 30% for nanofiltration. Considering the low emissions from Nordic energy production, the membrane processes would lower the environmental impact, including factors such as climate and ecosystem health. Greenhouse gas emissions would decrease from 161 g CO 2 -eq/m 3 of the existing process, to 127 g CO 2 -eq/m 3 or 83 g CO 2 -eq/m 3 for ultrafiltration and nanofiltration, respectively. Lower chemical consumption and less pollution from the sludge leaving the water treatment plant lead to lower impacts on the environment.

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Direct and indirect urban water footprints of the United States

Chini

Konar

Stillwell

2017

Water Resources Research

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The water footprint of the urban environment is not limited to direct water consumption (i.e., municipal supplies); embedded water in imported resources, or virtual water transfers, provides an additional component of the urban water footprint. Using empirical data, our analysis extends traditional urban water footprinting analysis to quantify both direct and indirect urban resources for the United States. We determine direct water volumes and their embedded energy through open records requests of water utilities. The indirect component of the urban water footprint includes water indirectly consumed through energy and food, relating to the food‐energy‐water nexus. We comprehensively quantify the indirect water footprint for 74 metropolitan statistical areas through the combination of various databases, including the Commodity Flow Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Water Footprint Network, and the Energy Information Administration. We then analyze spatial heterogeneity in both direct and indirect water footprints, determining the average urban water footprint in the United States to be 1.64 million gallons of water per person per year [6200 m3/person/yr or 17,000 L/person/d], dominated by indirect water. Additionally, our study of the urban water cycle extends beyond considering only water resources to include embedded energy and equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. The inclusion of multiple sectors of the urban water cycle and their underlying processes provides important insights to the overall urban environment, the interdependencies of the food‐energy‐water nexus, and water resource sustainability. Our results provide opportunities for benchmarking the urban energy‐water nexus, water footprints, and climate change potential.

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Comparative life cycle assessment of water treatment plants

Cited by 176 publications

References 13 publications

Life cycle assessment of four potable water treatment plants in northeastern Colombia

Life cycle assessment of four potable water treatment plants in northeastern Colombia

Feasibility Study of Advanced NOM-Reduction by Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration at a Swedish Surface Water Treatment Plant

Direct and indirect urban water footprints of the United States

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