Eco-Efficiency Analysis of Existing Industrial Wastewater Treatment: How to Include the External Costs to the Environment

Garcilaso, Luis; Gaines, William A.; Barkdoll, Brian D.

doi:10.1061/40856(200)324

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The present study presents an extended framework which aims to deepen the use of eco-efficiency analysis in the field of wastewater treatment. Unlike previous eco-efficiency studies of WWTPs which focused on improving uncertainty analysis [34], including external costs [35], incorporating sustainable values [36], integrating with data envelopment analysis [37] and providing benchmark analysis [38], this extended framework of ECE indicator aimed to incorporate the regional impacts of wastewater into the environmental dimension of eco-efficiency. By means of characterizing the potential growth of microorganisms and integrating water quality models with LCA characterization model, the extended ECE indicators were able to characterize the depletion of dissolved oxygen and capture the water pollutants' migration and transformation processes in receiving water.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Efficiency of End-of-Pipe Systems: An Extended Environmental Cost Efficiency Framework for Wastewater Treatment

Zhao

Zhang²,

Bai

2020

Water

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As a method for eco-efficiency analysis, environmental cost efficiency (ECE) indicators have been proposed for the end-of-pipe (EOP) systems that referred to the techniques achieving environmental benefit under economic cost. The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) belongs to the EOP systems; however, few studies used the ECE indicators for the sustainability evaluation. Here, this study first proposed the following processes that had been excluded in the current ECE framework and thus limited the potential application in WWTP: (1) the direct impact of wastewater on receiving water, (2) the migration and transformation of water pollutants affected by the self-purification mechanisms of receiving water. To address the aforementioned processes, this study extended the framework of ECE indicators by means of incorporating the potential growth of microorganisms as the characterization state and integrating the water quality models with the characterization models. To investigate the applicability, a full-scale WWTP was selected as the study case and the eco-efficiency of the increasing levels of sewage treatment was evaluated. The case outcome showed that, with the extended ECE indicators, the analysis of eco-efficiency could be directly related to the specific locations and could determine the specific distance ranges within which the scenarios changing were considered efficient. Moreover, the eco-efficiency could be investigated under more concrete and flexible situations because the extended framework of ECE indicators was able to include more information, such as different types of receiving water or different environmental conditions of certain water body.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Efficiency of End-of-Pipe Systems: An Extended Environmental Cost Efficiency Framework for Wastewater Treatment

Zhao

Zhang²,

Bai

2020

Water

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“…In the water and wastewater infrastructure systems, many approaches have been used to measure the sustainability of the assets (Ashley, 2004;Garcilaso, 2006). To achieve higher sustainability levels, currently the most important single factor is to use both resources (water and energy) as efficiently as possible.…”

Section: Energy Efficiency Of Water Utilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Energy Efficiency of Water Utilities

Sinha¹

2010

Pipelines 2010

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Water infrastructure systems worldwide use large amounts of energy to operate. Energy efficiency efforts are relevant because even relatively small gains in efficiency have the potential to bring significant benefits to these utilities in terms of financial savings and enhanced sustainability and resiliency. In order to achieve higher efficiency levels, energy usage must be measured and controlled.A common tool used to measure energy efficiency in water utilities and perform comparisons between utilities is metric benchmarking. Energy benchmarking scores are intended to measure how efficient water systems are among their peers, in a simple and accurate fashion. Although many different benchmarking methods are currently used, we chose to use the segregated benchmarking scores proposed by Carlson on his research report from (Carlson, 2007.The research objective is to improve these production energy use and treatment energy use benchmarking scores by analyzing the system's particular characteristics that might skew the results, such as topology, water loss and raw water quality. We propose that benchmarking metrics should be always used within a particular context for each specific utility being analyzed. A complementary score (Thermodynamic Score) was developed to provide context on how energy efficient is the utility not only compared with other utilities, but also compared with the potential maximum efficiency the utility can reach itself.We analyzed eight utilities from Virginia to obtain production and treatment energy use benchmarking scores and also thermodynamic scores using the minimum required energy approach. Benchmarking scores were skewed in 50% of the studied utilities. This means that benchmarking scores should never be used as a black box. The thermodynamic score proved to be useful for measurement of energy efficiency of a water utility on its production phase. In addition, some utilities can detect significant financial saving opportunities using the minimum required energy analysis for production operations.iii DEDICATIONTo my wife Beatriz for supporting me always, even through the most daring and unlikely enterprises with quiet patience and loving, forgiving, steady support. This project would not be possible without you.To my Dad Leon Gay Guerra, outstanding civil engineer and great human being, who showed me the path of science, knowledge and beauty of nature; and always a strong, patient leader in my life, and To my Mom Lila Alanis who inspired me to never, never give up fighting and searching for a better world for me and all those around me, in spite of all obstacles that may and will arise.iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Eco-Efficiency Analysis of Existing Industrial Wastewater Treatment: How to Include the External Costs to the Environment

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

Eco-Efficiency of End-of-Pipe Systems: An Extended Environmental Cost Efficiency Framework for Wastewater Treatment

Eco-Efficiency of End-of-Pipe Systems: An Extended Environmental Cost Efficiency Framework for Wastewater Treatment

Measuring the Energy Efficiency of Water Utilities

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