Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Wastewater-Derived Phosphorus Products: An Agricultural End-User Perspective

Abstract

Recovering phosphorus from wastewater in more concentrated forms has potential to sustainably recirculate phosphorus from cities to agriculture. The environmental sustainability of wastewater-based phosphorus recovery processes or wastewater-derived phosphorus products can be evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). Many LCA studies used a process perspective to account for the impacts of integrating phosphorus recovery processes at wastewater treatment plants, while some used a product perspective to assess the impacts of producing wastewater-derived phosphorus products. We demonstrated the application of an end-user perspective by assessing life cycle environmental impacts of substituting half of the conventional phosphorus rock-based fertilizers used in three crop production systems with wastewater-derived phosphorus products from six recovery pathways (RPs). The consequential LCA results show that the substitution reduces global warming potential, eutrophication potential, ecotoxicity potential, and acidification potential of the assessed crop production systems in most RPs and scenarios. The end-user perspective introduced in this study can (i) complement with the process perspective and the product perspective to give a more holistic picture of environmental impacts along the “circular economy value chains” of wastewater-based resource recovery, (ii) enable systemwide assessment of wide uptake of wastewater-derived products, and (iii) draw attention to understanding the long-term environmental impacts of using wastewater-derived products.

Physiological and molecular responses in phosphorus‐hyperaccumulating Polygonum species to high phosphorus exposure

“…As reported, soil legacy P easily enters waters, causing algal blooms and eutrophic to hypereutrophic waters in many countries, such as China, USA, Germany, and so forth (Fischer et al, 2017; Schelske, 2009; Wang et al, 2023). Thus, environmental pollution caused by P legacy, runoff and leaching requires attention (Lam et al, 2022; Schindler et al, 2016). Phosphorus‐hyperaccumulating plants can effectively remove excess P from soil, and avoid P runoff and eutrophication of streams (Sharma & Sahi, 2011; Xiao et al, 2009).…”

Biological recovery of phosphorus (BioP‐Rec) from wastewater streams using brewer's yeast on pilot‐scale

“…P recovery technologies from wastewater are currently focusing on full‐scale chemical P recovery [ 9 , 10 ] with struvite as a product (P recovery up to 95%) or P recovery from sludge ash after mono‐incineration [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. However, chemical recovery to struvite needs the addition of magnesium which is also an EU level critical resource [ 1 ], or high amounts of acids and bases for P recovery from sludge ash which is not environmentally friendly [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Influences of Management Practices and Methodological Choices on Life Cycle Assessment Results of Composting Mixtures of Biowaste and Green Cuts

“…Certain aspects of the LCA methodology require practitioners to choose between options to model and carry out the analysis. Systems can be assessed using LCA from multiple perspectives, including a process perspective where the system is input-oriented and a product perspective where the system is output-oriented [9]. Two fundamental approaches exist to handle multi-functionality, namely attributive and consequential LCA (CLCA).…”