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Customizing anaerobic digestion-coupled processes for energy-positive and sustainable treatment of municipal wastewater

Author

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  • Huang, Bao-Cheng
  • Li, Wen-Wei
  • Wang, Xu
  • Lu, Yan
  • Yu, Han-Qing

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies offer exciting opportunities for implementation of sustainable wastewater management, which are currently still an energy-intensive and costly process. However, selecting an appropriate AD process is challenging because the treatment performances vary significantly with the technology type, wastewater properties and environmental conditions and a trade-off between the treatment efficiency and other cost and environmental impacts is usually applied. In this study, a multi-criteria evaluation method which gives a balanced consideration between multiple sustainability dimensions and the practical implementation conditions for a specific treatment process was developed for AD-coupled processes evaluation. Six indicators across three metrics (i.e., environmental, economic, and technical performances) were covered in the method. Two representative AD-coupled processes for municipal wastewater treatment and four countries (United States, United Kingdom, China, and India) were selected for the evaluation. A national-specific evaluation shows that the high-rate activated sludge + sludge anaerobic digestion always outperforms the other processes (presently and in the near future) except for India, where up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket + activated sludge process stands out as the currently optimal option based on the 2015 data. Moreover, it is suggested that implementing AD-coupled nutrient recovery technologies will be economically more feasible for the developed countries than the developing ones, because the latter will still prioritize the economically- and environmentally-beneficial technologies in the near future. This work may help identifying key area of improvement needed for municipal wastewater sectors in different countries and provide guidance for national and global policy-makers to promote customized implementation of AD-coupled processes towards energy-positive and sustainable wastewater treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Bao-Cheng & Li, Wen-Wei & Wang, Xu & Lu, Yan & Yu, Han-Qing, 2019. "Customizing anaerobic digestion-coupled processes for energy-positive and sustainable treatment of municipal wastewater," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 132-142.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:110:y:2019:i:c:p:132-142
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.064
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    2. Marvuglia, Antonino & Havinga, Lisanne & Heidrich, Oliver & Fonseca, Jimeno & Gaitani, Niki & Reckien, Diana, 2020. "Advances and challenges in assessing urban sustainability: an advanced bibliometric review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Xiong, Yu-Tong & Zhang, Jing & Chen, You-Peng & Guo, Jin-Song & Fang, Fang & Yan, Peng, 2021. "Geographic distribution of net-zero energy wastewater treatment in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Huang, Bao-Cheng & He, Chuan-Shu & Fan, Nian-Si & Jin, Ren-Cun & Yu, Han-Qing, 2020. "Envisaging wastewater-to-energy practices for sustainable urban water pollution control: Current achievements and future prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Yan, Peng & Shi, Hong-Xin & Chen, You-Peng & Gao, Xu & Fang, Fang & Guo, Jin-Song, 2020. "Optimization of recovery and utilization pathway of chemical energy from wastewater pollutants by a net-zero energy wastewater treatment model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

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