Decentralised wastewater treatment technologies from a national perspective: at what cost are they competitive?

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Maurer ◽  
D. Rothenberger ◽  
T.A. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Sewer Systems ◽  
Wastewater Systems ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Wastewater Infrastructure ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
Maintenance Requirements

In this paper we estimate at what cost decentralised wastewater treatment can be competitive compared with conventional centralised technologies. For the current wastewater infrastructure in Western Europe and North America, typical replacement costs are 2,600 US$/cap for large countries and 4,800 US$/cap for small ones. In the same literature, average annual operating costs are reported to be 3.8% of replacement costs. However, if a long-term interest rate of 3% is consistently applied, this value increases to 4.7% for small countries and 5.5% for large ones. Assuming that alternative wastewater systems will only be accepted if their costs are similar to existing ones, the possible investments for alternative wastewater treatment technologies are calculated. Between 640 and 2,170 US$/cap can be invested in new technologies for scenarios without a sewer system. The corresponding figures for scenarios with sewer systems are between 260 and 680 US$/cap. Acceptable maintenance requirements are calculated on the basis of unit size. Transition periods are not accounted for.

scholarly journals Energy-saving wastewater treatment systems: formulation of cost functions

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nogueira ◽  
I. Ferreira ◽  
P. Janknecht ◽  
J.J. Rodríguez ◽  
P. Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Cost Functions ◽  
Sewer Systems ◽  
Operation Costs ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Labor Requirements ◽  
Natural Interactions ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Systems

Natural interactions between water, soil, atmosphere, plants and microorganisms include physical, chemical and biological processes with decontaminating capacities. Natural or energy-saving wastewater treatment systems utilize these processes and thereby enable a sustainable management in the field of wastewater treatment, offering low investment and operation costs, little or no energy consumption, little and low-skill labor requirements, good landscape integration and excellent feasibility for small settlements, especially when remote from centralized sewer systems. The objective of this work is the development of cost functions for investment and operation of energy-saving wastewater treatment technologies. Cost functions are essential for making cost estimations based on a very reduced number of variables. The latter are easily identified and quantified and have a direct bearing on the costs in question. The formulated investment and operation cost functions follow a power law, and the costs decrease with the increase of the population served. The different energy-saving wastewater treatment systems serving small population settlements, between 50 p.e. and 250 p.e., present associated investment costs varying from 400 €/p.e. to 200 €/p.e. and annual operation costs in the range of 70 €/p.e. to 20 €/p.e., respectively.

scholarly journals Perspectives on Microalgal Biofilm Systems with Respect to Integration into Wastewater Treatment Technologies and Phosphorus Scarcity

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2245
Author(s):  
Kateřina Sukačová ◽  
Daniel Vícha ◽  
Jiří Dušek
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Phosphorus Removal ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Phosphorus Uptake ◽  
Phosphorus Recovery ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Water Ecosystem ◽  
Treatment Technologies

Phosphorus is one of the non-renewable natural resources. High concentration of phosphorus in surface water leads to undesirable eutrophication of the water ecosystem. It is therefore necessary to develop new technologies not only for capturing phosphorus from wastewater but also for phosphorus recovery. The aim of the study was to propose three different integration scenarios for a microalgal biofilm system for phosphorus removal in medium and small wastewater treatment plants, including a comparison of area requirements, a crucial factor in practical application of microalgal biofilm systems. The area requirements of a microalgal biofilm system range from 2.3 to 3.2 m2 per person equivalent. The total phosphorus uptake seems to be feasible for construction and integration of microalgal biofilm systems into small wastewater treatment plants. Application of a microalgal biofilm for phosphorus recovery can be considered one of the more promising technologies related to capturing CO2 and releasing of O2 into the atmosphere.

Legionella prevalence in wastewater treatment plants of Taiwan

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1303-1310 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. W. Huang ◽  
B. M. Hsu ◽  
P. H. Ma ◽  
K. T. Chien
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Domestic Wastewater ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Wastewater Systems

Legionella is a bacterium that is ubiquitous in natural and artificial aquatic environments. Some species of Legionella are recognized as opportunistic potential human pathogens. We investigated the distribution of Legionella at seventeen WWTPs throughout Taiwan. Legionella were detected in 10 of the 17 WWTPs (58.8%) and 25 of 41 samples (61.0%). In the integrated, hospital, industrial and domestic wastewater systems were 13/18 (72.2%), 7/12 (58.3%), 2/7 (28.6%) and 3/4 (75.0%) of the samples were positive for Legionella, respectively. The most frequently encountered species were L. donaldsonii and uncultured L. spp., which were both found in 10 samples (24.4% of all samples), then followed by L. lytica (4.9%) and L. pneumophila (4.9%). L. anisa was detected in one sample (2.4%). The results of this survey confirm that Legionella are ubiquitous in WWTPs in Taiwan. Therefore, long-term investigations should be conducted to evaluate the overall occurrence of Legionella in WWTPs in Taiwan.

Research needs for developing innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies

2000 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 61-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.H. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Wastewater Systems ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Life On Earth

Research aimed at solving important environmental problems at all scales ranging from global to individual will continue to be an essential part of the process by which sustainability of life on earth may be achieved. Solutions to environmental problems that relate to water are especially critical to this process and are likely to involve use of innovative technologies that emerge from research with sufficient promise to justify their development, a process that evaluates them at a scale that will yield engineering design parameters and confidence in their technical performance and economic value. Privatization of water and wastewater systems and mergers of equipment manufacturers may provide the economic bases needed for development of innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies in the 21st Century that have emerged from research in the 19th and 20th Centuries but have not as yet been fully developed or adopted.

Identification of overall degradation in sewer systems from long-term measurements and consequences for WWTP simulations

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ahnert ◽  
V. Kuehn ◽  
P. Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Sewer Systems ◽  
Transformation Processes

In-sewer transformation processes affect significantly design and operation of large wastewater treatment plants. Especially for long-term simulations the degradation has to be considered in order to avoid over- and underestimation. In this paper a method is presented to derive the overall degradation from available operation data. The application of the results in a long-term simulation of a WWTP shows the relevance of the degradation for design and operation of an activated sludge plant.

scholarly journals Disinfection processes and mechanisms in wastewater stabilization ponds: a review

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Liu ◽  
Geof Hall ◽  
Pascale Champagne
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Pathogen Removal ◽  
Stabilization Ponds ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Maintenance Requirements ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Wastewater Stabilization Ponds

Wastewater stabilization ponds (WSPs) have been proven to be economical alternatives to conventional wastewater treatment technologies due to their unique advantages including ease of operation, minimal energy input, and minimal maintenance requirements. Their reported high pathogen removal efficiencies have made WSPs a popular choice for wastewater treatment, especially as tertiary lagoons. This paper provides a critical overview of the various disinfection processes and mechanisms that occur in WSPs. A thorough review of the removal or attenuation mechanisms for bacterial, viral, protozoan, and helminthic pathogens is presented. Factors that impact the removal efficiency of pathogenic organisms may include sunlight, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, sedimentation, attachment, hydraulic retention time, pond depth, predation and nutrient availability; the relationship between these factors is also discussed. The purpose of this review paper is to utilize the current understanding of pathogen removal mechanisms in pond systems to improve the operation and design of WSPs, and more importantly, to provide guidance for the definition of regulations with respect to pathogen removal in eco-engineered wastewater treatment systems such as WSPs.

Economic feasibility study for new technological alternatives in wastewater treatment processes: a review

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 898-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Molinos-Senante ◽  
Francesc Hernández-Sancho ◽  
Ramón Sala-Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Shadow Price ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Feasibility Studies ◽  
Pilot Scale ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Treatment Technologies

The concept of sustainability involves the integration of economic, environmental, and social aspects and this also applies in the field of wastewater treatment. Economic feasibility studies are a key tool for selecting the most appropriate option from a set of technological proposals. Moreover, these studies are needed to assess the viability of transferring new technologies from pilot-scale to full-scale. In traditional economic feasibility studies, the benefits that have no market price, such as environmental benefits, are not considered and are therefore underestimated. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new methodology to assess the economic viability of wastewater treatment technologies that considers internal and external impacts. The estimation of the costs is based on the use of cost functions. To quantify the environmental benefits from wastewater treatment, the distance function methodology is proposed to estimate the shadow price of each pollutant removed in the wastewater treatment. The application of this methodological approach by decision makers enables the calculation of the true costs and benefits associated with each alternative technology. The proposed methodology is presented as a useful tool to support decision making.

New technologies for on-site domestic and agricultural wastewater treatment

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (S1) ◽  
pp. 115-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Joy ◽  
Claude Weil ◽  
Anna Crolla ◽  
Shelly Bonte-Gelok
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Agricultural Wastewater ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Wastewater Systems

Recently publicized problems of water quality in rural parts of Canada are again bringing increasing attention to methods of dealing with wastewater in rural environments. This includes wastewater from both domestic (principally single-family homes) and agricultural sources. Previous practices which relied on dispersal with little treatment are increasingly unacceptable not only because of the recognition of the weakness of this approach but also because of the increasing intensification of land use in rural areas. Thus the need for additional and improved technologies for treating wastewater, on site, has increased. Because of this, new technologies have been developed which provide better treatment than previous approaches that also rely on natural processes. Examples of the former include peat, sand, and foam filters for domestic on-site wastewater systems. Engineered wetlands to treat barnyard runoff or rural municipal lagoon effluent is an example of a technology using natural processes. This paper describes some of these new technologies and their potential advantages.Key words: rural, wastewater, septic, manure, farm, on site, technologies.

Review of Wastewater Treatment Technologies for Application in Communities in the Amazonian Varzea

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Paulo Borges Pedro ◽  
Maria Cecília Rosinski Lima Gomes ◽  
Ana Claudeíse Silva do Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Treatment Technologies

Sludge minimization by disintegration at different wastewater treatment plants

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luchien Luning ◽  
Paul Roeleveld ◽  
Victor W.M. Claessen
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Biological Degradation ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Sludge Minimization

In recent years new technologies have been developed to improve the biological degradation of sewage sludge by anaerobic digestion. The paper describes the results of a demonstration of ultrasonic disintegration on the Dutch Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Land van Cuijk. The effect on the degradation of organic matter is presented, together with the effect on the dewatering characteristics. Recommendations are presented for establishing research conditions in which the effect of sludge disintegration can be determined in a more direct way that is less sensitive to changing conditions in the operation of the WWTP. These recommendations have been implemented in the ongoing research in the Netherlands supported by the National Institute for wastewater research (STOWA).

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