Wastewater and sewage sludge application to willows and poplars grown in lysimeters–Plant response and treatment efficiency

Dimitriou, Ioannis; Aronsson, Pär

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2010.08.019

Cited by 77 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Willow has been proven to effectively take up nutrients and heavy metals (Perttu, 1998;B€ orjesson, 1999a;Klang-Westin & Eriksson, 2003;Dimitriou & Aronsson, 2011). Cultivation of willow can therefore be used to treat a number waste sources; wastewater, municipal waste, sewage sludge, distillery effluent.…”

Section: Justification For Willowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with the production of short rotation willow (Salix sp.) chip in Ireland

2013

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Willow Salix sp. is currently cultivated as a short rotation forestry crop in Ireland as a source of biomass to contribute to renewable energy goals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with willow (Salix sp.) cultivation, harvest, and transport using life cycle assessment (LCA). In this study, only emissions from the production of the willow chip are included, end-use emissions from combustion are not considered. In this LCA study, three impact categories are considered; acidification potential, eutrophication potential and global warming potential. In addition, the cumulative energy demand and energy ratio of the system are evaluated. The results identify three key processes in the production chain which contribute most to all impact categories considered; maintenance, harvest and transportation of the crop. Sensitivity analysis on the type of fertilizers used, harvesting technologies and transport distances highlights the effects of these management techniques on overall system performance. Replacement of synthetic fertilizer with biosolids results in a reduction in overall energy demand, but raises acidification potential, eutrophication potential and global warming potential. Rod harvesting compares unfavourably in comparison with direct chip harvesting in each of the impact categories considered due to the additional chipping step required. The results show that dedicated truck transport is preferable to tractor-trailer transport in terms of energy demand and environmental impacts. Finally, willow chip production compares favourably with coal provision in terms of energy ratio and global warming potential, while achieving a higher energy ratio than peat provision but also a higher global warming potential.

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Section: Justification For Willowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with the production of short rotation willow (Salix sp.) chip in Ireland

2013

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“…It has been demonstrated that the treatment efficiency may be even higher than that of conventional treatments (Hasselgren, 2003), with retention up to 96% for nitrogen and 94% for phosphorus (Dimitroiu and Aronsson, 2011), whereas leaching processes depend on the load of nutrients contained in wastewater more than on irrigation flow rates (Dimitroiu and Aronsson, 2004;Rosenqvist and Dawson, 2005b). Hence, the pretreatment of water (Aronsson, 2000;Carlander and Stenström, 2001) and the calculation of crop irrigation requirements (Guidi et al, 2008) can ensure high efficiency of these water treatment systems without any risk for the environment.…”

Section: Potentials Of Vegetation Filter Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the many economic and environmental benefits proved by experimentation conducted in North-Central Europe countries (Rosenqvist and Dawson, 2005a,b;Börjesson and Berndes, 2006;BIOPROS, 2008;Dimitroiu and Aronsson, 2011;Dimitriou and Rosenqvist, 2011;Holm and Heinsoo, 2013) and although the Italian legislation allows the use of wastewater in agriculture1, the applications in Italy of multifunctional SRF for the production of biomasses and water purification are limited (BIOPROS, 2008;Guidi et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A spatial analysis model to assess the feasibility of short rotation forestry fertigated with urban wastewater: Basilicata region case study

Cozzi

Viccaro

Napoli

et al. 2015

Agricultural Water Management

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a b s t r a c tThe large-scale cultivation of energy crops irrigated with non-conventional water resources could reduce the negative impacts of fossil fuel use, while still saving potable supplies and decreasing pollution in surface water, particularly in water-deficient environments, like the Mediterranean region. Energy planning is a complex process involving multiple decision makers and criteria. Given the spatial nature of the problem, the research proposes a spatial analysis model to assess the agronomic and economic feasibility of vegetation filter systems in Basilicata region, southern Italy. The model chosen for land suitability analysis is the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) with the use of linguistic quantifiers. The suitability map obtained from the OWA model was used as input in the spatial analysis functions to quantify the productivity and irrigation needs of the species, the potential irrigable service area of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as well as the distances between them and SRF, which are all key elements in the economic evaluation. The results show that the distance is the main element that influences the feasibility: only 25 out of 163 WWTPs are cost-effective and can actually irrigate 864 ha of SRF. The research demonstrates that there is a great potential for bio-energy development in the region with significant economic advantages; in fact, there is a large number of sites with positive NPV up to 50,876.43 D/ha and payback period between 3 and 10 years. The implementation of vegetation filter systems could create chains with a high number of local actors (farmers, intermediaries, forest nurseries, etc.) and contribute to promoting territorial development and employment.

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“…This technology has been introduced into Denmark for on-site wastewater treatment with some success [5,6] with national guidelines produced [7]. Willows are highly suitable for such an application in such temperate climates due to their high transpiration rates throughout the growing season [8,9], efficient uptake of nutrients [10,11], tolerance of flooded soils and oxygen shortage in the root zone [12] and resilience to pollutants [13]. In more tropical climates other species have been proven to perform such a role; for example, trials in self-recirculating systems in Australia have demonstrated zero discharge using mixed species of bamboo and citrus fruits [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upflow Evapotranspiration System for the Treatment of On-Site Wastewater Effluent

Curneen¹,

Gill²

2015

Water

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Full-scale willow evapotranspiration systems fed from the base with septic tank or secondary treated domestic effluent from single houses have been constructed and instrumented in Ireland in order to investigate whether the technology could provide a solution to the problem of on-site effluent disposal in areas with low permeability subsoils. Continuous monitoring of rainfall, reference evapotranspiration, effluent flows and water level in the sealed systems revealed varying evapotranspiration rates across the different seasons. No system managed to achieve zero discharge in any year remaining at maximum levels for much of the winter months, indicating some loss of water by lateral exfiltration at the surface. Water sampling and analysis however, showed that the quality of any surface overflow from the systems was similar to rainfall runoff. The performance results have then been used to formulate design guidelines for such systems in Ireland's temperate maritime climate. The effect of varying different combinations of design parameters (plan area, soil depth, etc.) has been evaluated with respect to the simulated number of overflow days over a five-year period using a water balance model. Design guidelines have then been based upon minimising the amount of runoff, in conjunction with other practical and financial considerations.

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Wastewater and sewage sludge application to willows and poplars grown in lysimeters–Plant response and treatment efficiency

Cited by 77 publications

References 18 publications

Energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with the production of short rotation willow (Salix sp.) chip in Ireland

Energy requirements and environmental impacts associated with the production of short rotation willow (Salix sp.) chip in Ireland

A spatial analysis model to assess the feasibility of short rotation forestry fertigated with urban wastewater: Basilicata region case study

Upflow Evapotranspiration System for the Treatment of On-Site Wastewater Effluent

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