Technical and Economic Evaluation of WWTP Renovation Based on Applying Ultrafiltration Membrane

Abstract

Nowadays, the standards of discharging are gradually becoming stricter, since much attention has been paid to the protection of natural water resources around the world. Therefore, it is urgent to upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), to improve the effluent quality, and reduce the discharged pollutants to the natural environment. In this paper, taking the “Liaocheng UESH (UE Envirotech) WWTP in Shandong province of China” as an example, the existing problems and the detailed measures for a renovation were systemically discussed by technical and economic evaluation, before and after the renovation. During the renovation, the ultrafiltration membrane was added as the final stage of the designed process route, while upgrading the operation conditions of biochemical process at the same time. After the renovation, the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (CODcr), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total phosphorus (TP) and other major pollutants were improved greatly, and the results fully achieved the standards of surface water class IV. The ultrafiltration system performs a stable permeability around 1.5 LMH/kPa. Besides, the economic performance of the renovation was evaluated via the net present value (NPV) method. The result reveals that the NPV of the renovation of the WWTP within the 20 year life cycle is CNY 72.51 million and the overall investment cost can be recovered within the fourth year after the reoperation of the plant. This research does not only indicate that it is feasible to take an ultrafiltration membrane as the main technology, both from technical and economic perspectives, while upgrading the biochemical process section in the meantime, but also provides a new strategy for the renovation of existing WWTPs to achieve more stringent emission standards.

Effects of MoS2 Layer Thickness on Its Photochemically Driven Oxidative Dissolution

“…The MoS 2 suspensions were adjusted to pH 6 by adding diluted hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide solution. A pH of 6 is within the typical pH range of surface water, and thus our findings can provide useful insights into the alteration of MoS 2 nanosheets released in environmental systems . To ensure a consistent ionic strength (IS) during the dissolution tests and understand its effects on the dissolution of MoS 2 , either 1 or 10 mM NaCl was used, and the MoS 2 suspensions were mildly stirred.…”

Economic Analysis of Membrane-Based Separation of Biocatalyst: Mode of Operation and Stage Configuration

“…It involved a capital expenditure of $210,000, and it was found that the operating cost to maintain the unit was low, which is not expensive to set up a unit in the region where the study was conducted. Recently a study on process upgradation of a wastewater treatment plant was done by Bai et al [29]. It was found that the renovation of the plant with a UF membrane technology is feasible, and the investment amounts up to CNY 25.626 million for a production capacity of 1250 m 3 /h of wastewater.…”

Low-pressure membrane technology for potable water filtration: true costs

“…These have tended to concentrate on particular physical or chemical facets of the treatment technology, employing cost analysis for optimisation purposes. Recent examples of such topics (Table 1) include pre-treatment using powdered activated carbon (PAC) (Campinas et al, 2021) or coagulant (Arhin et al, 2019), maintenance optimisation with reference backwashing (Bai et al, 2020) or chemical cleaning (Yoo et al, 2018), module design (Lee et al, 2020), and membrane material -and in particular the cost comparison of ceramic and polymeric membranes (Hurvitz et al, 2018;Park et al, 2015;Pellegrino, 2012, 2013).…”

“…Many studies (Hurvitz et al, 2018;Yoo et al, 2018;Zheng et al, 2011) have been limited to operating expenditure (OPEX), based largely on a consideration of energy and consumables. Some of the studies which have encompassed capital costs have been based on a single flow capacity (Bai et al, 2020;Park et al, 2014;Pellegrino, 2012, 2013). Correlations reported in these studies have been generated from either outputs from trials conducted at bench or pilot scale (Guerra and Pellegrino, 2012) or a single full-scale reference installation (Bai et al, 2020).…”