Anaerobic co-digestion of sludge with other organic wastes in small wastewater treatment plants: an economic considerations evaluation

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Pavan ◽  
D. Bolzonella ◽  
E. Battistoni ◽  
F. Cecchi
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Anaerobic Reactors ◽  
Green Certificates ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
Economic Comparison

This paper deals with an economic comparison between costs and incomes in small wastewater treatment plants where the anaerobic co-digestion process of sludge and biowaste with energy recovery is operated. Plants in the size range 1,000–30,000 persons equivalent (pe) were considered in the study: typical costs, comprehensive of capital and operating costs, were in the range €69–105 per person per year depending on the plant size: the smaller the size the higher the specific cost. The incomes deriving from taxes and fees for wastewater treatment are generally in the range €36–54 per person per year and can only partially cover costs in small wastewater treatment plants. However, the co-treatment of biowaste and the use of produced energy for extra credits (green certificates) determine a clear improvement in the possible revenues from the plant. These were calculated to be €23–25 per person per year; as a consequence the costs and incomes can be considered comparable for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with size larger than 10,000 pe. Therefore, anaerobic co-digestion of biowaste and sludge can also be considered a sustainable solution for small wastewater treatment plants in rural areas where several different kinds of biowaste are available to enhance biogas production in anaerobic reactors.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATION COSTS

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Balmér ◽  
Bengt Mattsson
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Operation Costs ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
Per Capita

Operation and maintenance costs have been compiled for 20 wastewater treatment plants in the range of 7 000 to 650 000 population equivalents. Great effort has been made to exclude the effects of local conditions on the costs. Data on energy and chemical consumption and manpower are given as well as the total operating costs and the distribution of manpower, energy, chemical and other costs. The results show that costs for manpower and electricity as well as total costs on a per capita basis decrease with increasing plant size. The variation between individual plants is, however, large even when differences in local conditions are accounted for.

Innovative low cost procedure for nutrient removal as an integrated element of a decentralised water management concept for rural areas

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Burde ◽  
F. Rolf ◽  
F. Grabowski
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Fixed Bed ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Fixed Bed Reactor ◽  
Soil Zone

The absence of large rivers with rather high niveau of self purifying effect in parts of east Germany leads to a discharging of the effluent of wastewater treatment plants into the groundwater in many cases. One useful consequence is the idea of realisation of decentralised measures and concepts in urban water resources management concerning municipal wastewater as well as rainfall, precipitation. At the same time, only the upper soil zone - a few decimetres - is water - saturated and thus discharge effective, even when extreme rainfall takes place. Underneath, however, there generally exists an unsaturated soil zone, which is up to now a rather unexplored retardation element of the hydrologic- and substrate-cycle. Nutrient removal in small wastewater treatment plants that are emptying into ground waters is often beneficial. The presented studies optimised an inexpensive method of subsequent enhanced wastewater treatment. The developed reactor is similar to a concentrated subsoil passage. The fixed bed reactor is divided in two sections to achieve aerobic and anoxic conditions for nitrification/denitrification processes. To enhance phosphorus removal, ferrous particles are put into the aerobic zone. Two series of column tests were carried out and a technical pilot plant was built to verify the efficiency of the process. The results show that this method can be implemented successfully.

scholarly journals Benchmarking of large municipal wastewater treatment plants treating over 100,000 PE in Austria

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 1487-1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lindtner ◽  
H. Schaar ◽  
H. Kroiss
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Design Capacity ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Process Indicators ◽  
Benchmarking System

During a six-year period the Austrian Benchmarking System was developed. The main objectives of this benchmarking system are the development of process indicators, identification of best performance and determination of cost reduction potentials. Since 2004 this system is operated via an internet platform and automated to a large extent. Every year twenty to thirty treatment plants use the web-based access to this benchmarking platform. The benchmarking procedure comprises data acquisition, data evaluation including reporting and organised exchange of experience for the treatment plant managers. The process benchmarking method links the real costs with four defined main processes and two support processes. For wastewater treatment plants with a design capacity >100,000 PE these processes are further split up into sub-processes. For each (sub-) process the operating costs are attributed to six cost elements. The specific total yearly costs and the yearly operating costs of all (sub-)processes are related to the measured mean yearly pollution load of the plant expressed in population equivalents (PE110: 110 gCOD/d corresponding to 60 g BOD5/d)). The specific capital costs are related to the design capacity (PE). The paper shows the benchmarking results of 6 Austrian plants with a design capacity >100,000 PE representing approximately 30% of the Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant capacity.

scholarly journals A Mini-Review of Urban Wastewater Treatment in Greece: History, Development and Future Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6133
Author(s):  
Charikleia Prochaska ◽  
Anastasios Zouboulis
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Treated Wastewater ◽  
Septic Tank ◽  
Urban Wastewater ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Urban Wastewater Treatment

Although Greece has accomplished wastewater infrastructure construction to a large extent, as 91% of the country’s population is already connected to urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), many problems still need to be faced. These include the limited reuse of treated wastewater and of the surplus sludge (biosolids) produced, the relative higher energy consumption in the existing rather aged WWTPs infrastructure, and the proper management of failing or inadequately designed septic tank/soil absorption systems, still in use in several (mostly rural) areas, lacking sewerage systems. Moreover, the wastewater treatment sector should be examined in the general framework of sustainable environmental development; therefore, Greece’s future challenges in this sector ought to be reconsidered. Thus, the review of Greece’s urban wastewater history, even from the ancient times, up to current developments and trends, will be shortly addressed. This study also notes that the remaining challenges should be analyzed in respect to the country’s specific needs (e.g., interaction with the extensive tourism sector), as well as to the European Union’s relevant framework policies and to the respective international technological trends, aiming to consider the WWTPs not only as sites for the treatment/removal of pollutants to prevent environmental pollution, but also as industrial places where energy is efficiently used (or even produced), resources’ content can be potentially recovered and reused (e.g., nutrients, treated water, biosolids), and environmental sustainability is being practiced overall.

scholarly journals MBR-Assisted VFAs Production from Excess Sewage Sludge and Food Waste Slurry for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Parchami ◽  
Steven Wainaina ◽  
Amir Mahboubi ◽  
David I’Ons ◽  
Mohammad J. Taherzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acids ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Ph Control ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Solids Concentration

The significant amount of excess sewage sludge (ESS) generated on a daily basis by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is mainly subjected to biogas production, as for other organic waste streams such as food waste slurry (FWS). However, these organic wastes can be further valorized by production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that have various applications such as the application as an external carbon source for the denitrification stage at a WWTP. In this study, an immersed membrane bioreactor set-up was proposed for the stable production and in situ recovery of clarified VFAs from ESS and FWS. The VFAs yields from ESS and FWS reached 0.38 and 0.34 gVFA/gVSadded, respectively, during a three-month operation period without pH control. The average flux during the stable VFAs production phase with the ESS was 5.53 L/m2/h while 16.18 L/m2/h was attained with FWS. Moreover, minimal flux deterioration was observed even during operation at maximum suspended solids concentration of 32 g/L, implying that the membrane bioreactors could potentially guarantee the required volumetric productivities. In addition, the techno-economic assessment of retrofitting the membrane-assisted VFAs production process in an actual WWTP estimated savings of up to 140 €/h for replacing 300 kg/h of methanol with VFAs.

Carbon footprints of Scandinavian wastewater treatment plants

2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 887-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. I. Gustavsson ◽  
S. Tumlin
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Carbon Footprints ◽  
Fossil Carbon

This study estimates the carbon footprints of 16 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), all situated in Scandinavian countries, by using a simple model. The carbon footprint calculations were based on operational data, literature emission factors (efs) and measurements of greenhouse gas emissions at some of the studied WWTPs. No carbon neutral WWTPs were found. The carbon footprints ranged between 7 and 108 kg CO2e P.E.−1 year−1. Generally, the major positive contributors to the carbon footprint were direct emissions of nitrous oxide from wastewater treatment. Whether heat pumps for effluents have high coefficient of performance or not is extremely important for the carbon footprint. The choice of efs largely influenced the carbon footprint. Increased biogas production, efficient biogas usage, and decreased addition of external fossil carbon source for denitrification are important activities to decrease the carbon footprint of a WWTP.

Municipal wastewater treatment by biofiltration: comparisons of various treatment layouts. Part 2: assessment of the operating costs in optimal conditions

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (9) ◽  
pp. 1713-1719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Rocher ◽  
Catherine Paffoni ◽  
Alexandre Gonçalves ◽  
Sam Azimi ◽  
André Pauss
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Optimal Conditions ◽  
Operation Costs

This work aims to compare the operation costs (energy, reagents, waste management) for the three layouts usually used in wastewater treatment plants incorporating biofilters, using technical and economical data acquired during 10 years of operation of a Parisian plant (Seine Centre, 240,000 m3 d−1 –800,000 equivalent inhabitants). The final objective is to establish general economical data and tendencies that can be translated from our study to any biofiltration plant. Our results evidenced the savings achieved through the treatment process combining upstream and downstream denitrification. To use this layout reduced the operating costs by some 10% as compared with conventional processing only comprising downstream denitrification. Operating costs were respectively estimated at 37 and 34 €/1,000 m3 for downstream denitrification and combining upstream and downstream denitrification layouts.

scholarly journals Wyposażenie obszarów wiejskich w systemy odprowadzania ścieków na przykładzie gmin powiatu olsztyńskiego

2018 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-67
Author(s):  
Mirosława Witkowska-Dąbrowska
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Local Approach ◽  
Septic Tanks ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
The Town

The purpose of the study was to evaluate, in a local approach, the state of supply of rural areas in a rural district with household wastewater management systems, with the focus on home wastewater treatment plants. The study covered the rural areas of the district of Olsztyn. The data, which were acquired from the Bank of Local Data, were processed through basic mathematical transformations and statistical measures. The structure and intensity indices were calculated per 1,000 residents. Large differences were found in the access to linear infrastructure and to individual systems of wastewater discharge. The results showed a constant increase in the number of home wastewater treatment plants and septic tanks due to the constant influx of people to villages lying around the town of Olsztyn. In contrast to studies conducted on a regional scale, no decrease in the number of septic tanks was observed correlated with the growing number of home wastewater treatment plants. A possible reason can be the specific environmental conditions and protection of inland waters, which limit possible locations of home wastewater treatment plants.

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