Primary sedimentation as a sustainability measure for newly built municipal wastewater treatment plants: too expensive?

Abstract

A study was performed based on the design of a new wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to be built in Weesp, The Netherlands (about 46,000 Population Equivalents (PE)). The conventional activated sludge plant was considered among the alternatives, with and without primary sedimentation. This pre-treatment technique is considered a sustainability measure as it improves the energy balance of the WWTP. However, at the same time, the question arose about the cost effectiveness of this measure. The scope of the study was to assess whether other sustainability measures (like solar panels) can realise the same level of sustainability with lower costs. The outcome of the study indeed shows that, for a new WWTP, it is considerably cheaper to avoid primary sedimentation and focus on other measures like solar panels instead. This appeared not only to be the case for the scale of WWTP Weesp, but also for WWTPs with capacities higher than 500,000 PE. For existing WWTPs with primary sedimentation, the choice can be different as customisation is necessary.

Solar homogeneous catalysis to the removal of organic matter from slaughterhouse effluents undergone to a prior biological process

“…The Figure 4(a) shows that sedimentation reaches a 16% of COD removal and 54% of TSS reduction obtaining a less complex sample that will be undergone to treatment via advanced oxidation processes. These results show the importance of applying a pretreatment to the slaughterhouse wastewater to settle out the suspended solids, which is a lowcost mechanical separation since no chemical reagents are required and that can represent an advantage when integrating a wastewater treatment train with sustainable processes such as the use of energy from the wind or solar (Giorgi et al 2018).…”

Phase-separation during sedimentation of dilute bacterial suspensions

“…ocean's biological pump) that transports carbon from the ocean's surface to depth [7][8][9] . From a technological stand point, microbial activity can affect many process such as the production of food, biofuels, and even vaccines [10][11][12][13][14] . While there is a rich history (and much still to understand) on the subject of sedimentation of passive suspensions [15][16][17][18][19][20] , there has been a growing interest on systems that emulates the sedimentation of natural processes, particularly those that include living matter such as swimming bacteria [21][22][23][24][25][26] .…”

Multiple use of iron in an urban water system

“…In addition, the primary sludge resulting from primary sedimentation has been demonstrated to have higher biomethane potential. There have been many benefits in the operation of primary sedimentation tanks in WWTPs and highly regarded as a sustainable measure (Giorgi et al 2018). There are also disadvantages when primary sedimentation tanks are not in operation.…”

“…The inclusion of PS in a wastewater treatment configuration has significant effects on its downstream process units (Gori et al 2013). There has been some debate on the use of PS in wastewater treatment because of the related cost of the tank and the amount of space required but is it seen a sustainable measure for newly build wastewater treatment plants (Giorgi et al 2018) and the effects to the carbon pathways in the WWTP (Gori et al 2013).…”