Striking the Balance Between Nutrient Removal in Wastewater Treatment and Sustainability

Falk, Michael; Neethling, JB; Reardon, David J.

doi:10.2166/9781780400433

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…This study was sponsored by Water Environment Research Foundation under the Nutrient Removal Challenge (NUTR1R06n) (Falk et al, 2011). Additionally, the authors thank the reviewers that graciously attended the workshop in Denver, CO and Dr. Michael Stenstrom and Dr. Kartik Chandran for their reviews.…”

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Striking the Balance between Nutrient Removal, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Receiving Water Quality, and Costs

Falk¹,

Reardon²,

Neethling³

et al. 2013

Water Environment Research

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This Water Environment Research Foundation study considered the relationship between varying nutrient-removal levels at wastewater treatment plants, greenhouse gas emissions, receiving water quality (measured by potential algal production), and costs. The effluent nutrient concentrations required by some U.S. permits are very low, approaching the technology-best-achievable performance. This study evaluated five different treatment levels at a nominal 40 ML/d (10 mgd) flow. Greenhouse gas emissions and costs increase gradually up to the technologies' best-achievable performance, after which they increase exponentially. The gradual increase is attributed to additional biological treatment facilities, increased energy and chemical use, and additional tertiary nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes. Within the limited focus of this study, the evaluation shows that a point of diminishing return is reached as nutrient-removal objectives approach the technology-best-achievable performance, where greenhouse gas emissions and cost of treatment increases rapidly while the potential for algal growth reduce marginally.

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Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Striking the Balance between Nutrient Removal, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Receiving Water Quality, and Costs

Falk¹,

Reardon²,

Neethling³

et al. 2013

Water Environment Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Sulfide inhibition on polyphosphate accumulating organisms and glycogen accumulating organisms: Cumulative inhibitory effect and recoverability

Meng

Zeng

Fan

et al. 2023

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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Clarifying the Role of Phosphorus Management Strategies in Enhancing the Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Zhang,

Li,

Han

et al. 2024

Water

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With the emphasis on climate change and society’s goals of carbon neutrality, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are facing new challenges to be more sustainable and particularly to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the increasingly stringent discharge standard, especially the phosphorus removal target, also puts lots of pressure on WWTPs. The key solution is to tailor and/or optimize the phosphorus management strategies to balance removal targets and sustainability. As such, the present study systematically summarizes and analyzes different phosphorus management approaches and their impacts on the costs and operation of whole plants. The summary shows that precipitate scaling is a common issue that can be alleviated by proper phosphorus management strategies and operation optimization. Biological phosphorus removal and chemical phosphorus removal processes have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Most importantly, each phosphorus removal process probably has countering impacts on wastewater and sludge treatment lines. Thus, the evaluation of a specific phosphorus removal process should consider all factors in choosing a suitable technology, which is also true for phosphorus recovery, and the recovery from incineration ash seems to be a trend that is more feasible from a regulatory perspective.

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Striking the Balance Between Nutrient Removal in Wastewater Treatment and Sustainability

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Striking the Balance between Nutrient Removal, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Receiving Water Quality, and Costs

Striking the Balance between Nutrient Removal, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Receiving Water Quality, and Costs

Sulfide inhibition on polyphosphate accumulating organisms and glycogen accumulating organisms: Cumulative inhibitory effect and recoverability

Clarifying the Role of Phosphorus Management Strategies in Enhancing the Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plants

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