Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for determining a product or a process's environmental effects. In this study, LCA evaluates the critical sources of environmental impacts in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative LCA of four wastewater treatment (WWT) methods: activated sludge process, sequential batch reactor, constructed wetlands, and up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket, including the sludge treatment methods: anaerobic digestion (AD), AD with pretreatment, lime stabilization (LS), and LS with energy recovery. Environmental impacts are analysed using the IMPACT 2002+ approach and Simapro 9.1 software using the Ecoinventv3.6 database. The study result shows that the sequential batch reactor has the highest environmental effects because of its high energy consumption. Electricity used for treatment is the primary contributor to environmental impacts. The study helps in evaluating the potential environmental impacts corresponding to a WWTP and identifying the hotspots associated with the process.
Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) technologies were evaluated using life-cycle analysis (LCA). The study aimed to compare different MSWM approaches: landfill with composting, anaerobic digestion (AD) combined with landfill, incineration and AD combined with incineration. The Impact 2002 + approach and Simapro 9.1.1.1 software using the Ecoinvent v3.6 database were used to compare environmental impacts. The study showed that landfill with composting had the highest environmental impact due to its high potential of global warming and depletion in ecosystem quality, while other scenarios showed reduced impacts. AD combined with incineration was found to have least environmental impact, mainly due to energy recovery from AD. The goal of the study was to determine more environmentally sustainable alternatives for MSWM using LCA within the system boundary.
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