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Energy Recovery from Wastewater Treatment Plants in the United States: A Case Study of the Energy-Water Nexus

Author

Listed:
  • Ashlynn S. Stillwell

    (Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1786, Austin, TX 78712, USA)

  • David C. Hoppock

    (Climate Change Policy Partnership, Duke University, Box 90335, Durham, NC 27708, USA)

  • Michael E. Webber

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C2200, Austin, TX 78712, USA)

Abstract

This manuscript uses data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to analyze the potential for energy recovery from wastewater treatment plants via anaerobic digestion with biogas utilization and biosolids incineration with electricity generation. These energy recovery strategies could help offset the electricity consumption of the wastewater sector and represent possible areas for sustainable energy policy implementation. We estimate that anaerobic digestion could save 628 to 4,940 million kWh annually in the United States. In Texas, anaerobic digestion could save 40.2 to 460 million kWh annually and biosolids incineration could save 51.9 to 1,030 million kWh annually.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashlynn S. Stillwell & David C. Hoppock & Michael E. Webber, 2010. "Energy Recovery from Wastewater Treatment Plants in the United States: A Case Study of the Energy-Water Nexus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:945-962:d:7791
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Georg Neugebauer & Florian Kretschmer & René Kollmann & Michael Narodoslawsky & Thomas Ertl & Gernot Stoeglehner, 2015. "Mapping Thermal Energy Resource Potentials from Wastewater Treatment Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Wang, Hongtao & Yang, Yi & Keller, Arturo A. & Li, Xiang & Feng, Shijin & Dong, Ya-nan & Li, Fengting, 2016. "Comparative analysis of energy intensity and carbon emissions in wastewater treatment in USA, Germany, China and South Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 873-881.
    3. Plappally, A.K. & Lienhard V, J.H., 2012. "Energy requirements for water production, treatment, end use, reclamation, and disposal," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4818-4848.
    4. Seckin, Candeniz & Bayulken, Ahmet R., 2013. "Extended Exergy Accounting (EEA) analysis of municipal wastewater treatment – Determination of environmental remediation cost for municipal wastewater," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 55-64.
    5. Florian Kretschmer & Georg Neugebauer & Gernot Stoeglehner & Thomas Ertl, 2018. "Participation as a Key Aspect for Establishing Wastewater as a Source of Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Wakeel, Muhammad & Chen, Bin & Hayat, Tasawar & Alsaedi, Ahmed & Ahmad, Bashir, 2016. "Energy consumption for water use cycles in different countries: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 868-885.
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    8. Angineh Zohrabian & Kelly T. Sanders, 2020. "The Energy Trade-Offs of Transitioning to a Locally Sourced Water Supply Portfolio in the City of Los Angeles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    9. Radini, Serena & Marinelli, Enrico & Akyol, Çağrı & Eusebi, Anna Laura & Vasilaki, Vasileia & Mancini, Adriano & Frontoni, Emanuele & Bischetti, Gian Battista & Gandolfi, Claudio & Katsou, Evina & Fat, 2021. "Urban water-energy-food-climate nexus in integrated wastewater and reuse systems: Cyber-physical framework and innovations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    10. Joe Williams & Stefan Bouzarovski & Erik Swyngedouw, 2019. "The urban resource nexus: On the politics of relationality, water–energy infrastructure and the fallacy of integration," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(4), pages 652-669, June.
    11. Antonio Panico & Giuseppe D'Antonio & Giovanni Esposito & Luigi Frunzo & Paola Iodice & Francesco Pirozzi, 2014. "The Effect of Substrate-Bulk Interaction on Hydrolysis Modeling in Anaerobic Digestion Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Ravi Kant Bhatia & Deepak Sakhuja & Shyam Mundhe & Abhishek Walia, 2020. "Renewable Energy Products through Bioremediation of Wastewater," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Sturm, Belinda S.M. & Lamer, Stacey L., 2011. "An energy evaluation of coupling nutrient removal from wastewater with algal biomass production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(10), pages 3499-3506.
    14. Moni Silva, Ana Paula & Barros, Regina Mambeli & Silva Lora, Electo Eduardo & Díaz Flórez, Carlos Andrés & Silva dos Santos, Ivan Felipe & Cassia Crispim, Adriele Maria de & Grillo Renó, Maria Luiza, 2023. "Characterization and evaluation of the life cycle of energy use from drying bed sludge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PB).
    15. Ming Tang & Huchang Liao & Zhengjun Wan & Enrique Herrera-Viedma & Marc A. Rosen, 2018. "Ten Years of Sustainability (2009 to 2018): A Bibliometric Overview," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    16. Bekker, A. & Van Dijk, M. & Niebuhr, C.M., 2022. "A review of low head hydropower at wastewater treatment works and development of an evaluation framework for South Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    17. 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).
    18. Elena Helerea & Marius D. Calin & Cristian Musuroi, 2023. "Water Energy Nexus and Energy Transition—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-31, February.
    19. Jaroslav Vrchota & Martin Pech & Ladislav Rolínek & Jiří Bednář, 2020. "Sustainability Outcomes of Green Processes in Relation to Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing: Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-47, July.
    20. Liang, Sai & Zhang, Tianzhu, 2011. "Interactions of energy technology development and new energy exploitation with water technology development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 6960-6966.
    21. Ali, Syed Muhammad Hassan & Lenzen, Manfred & Sack, Fabian & Yousefzadeh, Moslem, 2020. "Electricity generation and demand flexibility in wastewater treatment plants: Benefits for 100% renewable electricity grids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    22. Liu, Qipeng & Li, Ran & Dereli, Recep Kaan & Flynn, Damian & Casey, Eoin, 2022. "Water resource recovery facilities as potential energy generation units and their dynamic economic dispatch," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    23. Nair, Sudeep & George, Biju & Malano, Hector M. & Arora, Meenakshi & Nawarathna, Bandara, 2014. "Water–energy–greenhouse gas nexus of urban water systems: Review of concepts, state-of-art and methods," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-10.
    24. Venkatesh, G. & Chan, Arthur & Brattebø, Helge, 2014. "Understanding the water-energy-carbon nexus in urban water utilities: Comparison of four city case studies and the relevant influencing factors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 153-166.

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