Exploring options for energy recovery from wastewater: Evaluation of hydropower potential in a sustainability framework

Llácer-Iglesias, Rosa M.; Jiménez, Petra Amparo López; Sánchez, Modesto Pérez

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2023.104576

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…They examine the impact of variation in flow rate due to changes in water demands on the optimal design of turbines. Rosa et al (2023) presents a study with a developed and applied methodology in a case study in Spain. Through an innovative approach encompassing economic, environmental, and social considerations, the authors demonstrate that hydropower can be an intriguing option to contemplate for decarbonizing wastewater systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation on reuse of energy at a sewage treatment plant and payback period

Coelho,

Oliveira Fávero,

Oliveira

et al. 2023

Environmental Quality Mgmt

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The reuse of energy is a topic currently being widely discussed around the world. This study analyzes the potential for energy reuse in treatment plants. Sewage Treatment Plants are responsible for treating the water present in the sewers of cities. The treated water returns clean to the river, and generally, the place of discharge has a high height and flow rate that can be harnessed for the generation of electric energy. This work investigates the feasibility of installing a Micro Hydroelectric Plant in the Treatment Station of the Uberaba River in Brazil. Hydraulic potential and investment analysis were used as viability criteria. For the study, a height of 6 m and an average flow rate of 0.465 m3/s were considered, which could generate about 22.51 kW using a Bulb water turbine. This power represents a return of US$1651.26 per month from the generation of electric energy. The estimated installation cost was US$32,966.73, and the payback period was found to be less than 2 years. There are 702 sewage treatment plants in Brazil alone, and hypothetical analyses were performed with flow rates ranging from 0.2 to 1 m3/s and heights ranging from 1 to 9 m. Motivating results with payback periods of less than 4 years were obtained for numerous hypothetical situations, which demonstrates the feasibility of installing Micro Hydropower Plants and achieving savings in the sewage treatment system.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation on reuse of energy at a sewage treatment plant and payback period

Coelho,

Oliveira Fávero,

Oliveira

et al. 2023

Environmental Quality Mgmt

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“…In dealing with the multiple concerns in the sustainability enhancement of the WWTPs, decision support systems (DSS) have been usually created by resorting to multi-attribute decision-making approaches or multi-objective optimization techniques [15,16]. For instance, a smart plant DSS has been developed specifically for the selection of WWTP configurations that incorporate resource recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Optimization Framework for Improvement Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Li,

Pang,

et al. 2023

Processes

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Enhancing the sustainability of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is crucial due to their manifold benefits, which encompass environmental preservation, cost reduction, and resource and energy conservation. The achievement of these advantages relies on the careful choice and implementation of retrofit technologies to upgrade WWTPs. However, this decision-making process is intricate, given the trade-offs between the objectives and the inherent decision uncertainties. To address these complexities, this work presents an innovative weighted multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework tailored for WWTP enhancement amid uncertain conditions. This framework comprises two phases. The first phase involves basic definition and information collection through a case-specific assessment, while the second phase includes model formulation and solver optimization, which serves as a generic tool for the weighted MOO problem. In the model formulation, a combined weighting approach that integrates expert opinions and statistical insights is introduced to assign significance to each objective. The solver optimization employs a projection-based algorithm to identify the optimal technology configuration that achieves a satisfactory and balanced improvement across multiple sustainable objectives. By applying this framework to a case plant for retrofit technology selection, the comprehensive sustainability performance, the targeting of discharged pollution, the operational cost, and the GHG emissions improved by 46.7% to 68.3%.

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