Abstract

Nowadays, several technologies and management strategies are proposed for upgrading wastewatertreatment plants (WWTPs) in order to improve sludge stabilization or minimize sludge production. Inorder to make sure that this leads to overall improvements, their techno-economic and environmentalperformance has to be carefully evaluated. In response to this, the techno-economic and environmentalperformance was assessed for a considered model reference WWTP upgraded with separate treatmentand disposal for primary and secondary sludge to provide guidance to research, policy and investmentefforts. This paper departs in an experimental campaign carried out within the EU project "ROUTES" anddescribes an assessment of an upgrade of a WWTP, involving wet oxidation of primary sludge andthermophilic anaerobic digestion (integrated with thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment) for secondarysludge. The reference plant and the upgrade implied different disposal routes for the resulting sludges:incineration for the stabilized sludge deriving from the reference WWTP; agricultural land applicationfor the secondary stabilized sludge from the upgraded plant and landfilling for the solid residue derivingfrom the wet oxidation process (as non-hazardous waste).The mass balance carried out for both reference and upgraded WWTPs showed a reduction of totalsludge production (up to 45%) for the upgraded WWTP. The additional energy demand of the upgradedsolution (þ22.4 Wh/(PE d), PE: population equivalent) was partially balanced by the electric energyproduced by combined heat and power unit installed in the upgraded WWTP (18.08 Wh/(PE d)). Theintegrated assessment showed that the upgraded solution, although resulting in an increase of WWTPtechnical complexity, may contribute to environmental and economic advantages. The paper providesguidance in terms of which aspects need a more thorough evaluation when this upgrade is considered inreal cases.

Autore Pugliese

• Laera Giuseppe

Tutti gli autori

• Gianico A.; Bertanza G.; Braguglia C.M.; Canato M.; Laera G.; Heimersson S.; Svanstrom M.; Mininni G.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Journal of cleaner production

Anno di pubblicazione

2015

ISSN

0959-6526

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

Non Disponibile

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile