Life Cycle Assessment of Biosolids Land Application and Evaluation of the Factors Impacting Human Toxicity through Plant Uptake

Abstract

Due to increasing environmental concerns in the wastewater treatment sector, the environmental impacts of organic waste disposal procedures require careful evaluation. However, the impacts related to the return of organic matter to agricultural soils are difficult to assess. The goals of this study are to assess the environmental impacts of land application of two types of biosolids (dried and composted, respectively) from the same wastewater treatment plant in France, and to improve the quantification of human toxicity.A life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out on a case study based on validated data from an actual wastewater treatment plant. Numerous impacts were included in this analysis, but a particular emphasis was laid on human toxicity via plant ingestion. For six out of the eight impact categories included in the analysis, the dried biosolids system was more harmful to the environment than the composting route, especially regarding the consumption of primary energy. Only human toxicity via water, soil, and air compartments and ozone depletion impacts were higher with the composted biosolids.

Connection of neighboring wastewater treatment plants: economic and environmental assessment

“…Finally, the data related to transportation, measured in tkm were obtained from the transporting distances (40 km for composting; 60 km for the landfill; 100 km for agriculture; 5 km for thermal heating treatment; 10 km for grease disposal) and the metric tons of residues generated. The inventory for sludge composting was obtained by combining the inventories provided in Amlinger et al (2008) and Sablayrolles et al (2010). For the application of the digested sludge to agriculture, factors from Doka (Doka, 2009) were used for nutrient emissions to air and water, and for plants absorption.…”

Nano-TiO2 Coatings for Limestone: Which Sustainability for Cultural Heritage?

“…The principle is to quantify the resources consumed and the emissions released to the environment at all stages of the life cycle of the product [10]. The results are subsequently interpreted in terms of impacts on health and environment, for a range of impact categories, including global warming, eutrophication of ecosystems and others [11]. The importance of LCA lies mainly in its innovative approach, which considers all stages of the considered system to be correlated and dependent.…”

Biosolids and Sludge Management

“…Australia, a concerted effort was made by the Australian National Biosolids Research Program to investigate the benefits and risks associated with land application including nutrient loading, heavy metals and pathogens.The results of this compilation are presented byPritchard et al (2010). An impact model was used to conduct a life cycle assessment on the quantification of human toxicity resulting from the land application of composted and dried biosolids bySablayrolles et al (2010). They found dried biosolids had the highest consumption of non-renewable primary energy, and they were more harmful to theenvironment than the composted biosolids for 6 of the 8 impact categories.…”