The Impact of Advanced Treatment Technologies on the Energy Use in Satellite Water Reuse Plants

Abstract

With an ever-increasing world population and the resulting increase in industrialization and agricultural practices, depletion of one of the world’s most important natural resources, water, is inevitable. Water reclamation and reuse is the key to protecting this natural resource. Water reclamation using smaller decentralized wastewater treatment plants, known as satellite water reuse plants (WRP), has become popular in the last decade. Reuse plants have stricter standards for effluent quality and require a smaller land footprint (i.e., real estate area). They also require additional treatment processes and advanced treatment technologies. This greatly increases the energy consumption of an already energy intensive process, accentuating even more the nexus between energy use and wastewater processing. With growing concerns over the use of nonrenewable energy sources and resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, WRPs are in need of energy evaluations. This paper contrasts the energy consumption of both conventional and advanced treatment processes in satellite WRPs. Results of this research provide a means for engineers and wastewater utilities to evaluate unit processes based on energy consumption as well as a foundation for making decisions regarding the sustainability of using advanced treatment technologies at reuse facilities.

Renewable Energy Generation and GHG Emission Reduction Potential of a Satellite Water Reuse Plant by Using Solar Photovoltaics and Anaerobic Digestion

“…Growing population and decreasing water reserves warrant utilizing reuse water to mitigate the effects of water scarcity [1,2]. Due to the close proximity and/or potential direct contact of reclaimed water with the general public, regulations and effluent standards for water reuse over recent decades have become stricter [3][4][5][6][7][8]. To achieve these stricter standards, additional and/or advanced treatment technologies are needed [9,10].…”

“…Wastewater treatment is energy intensive. Despite the obvious benefits of water reuse and recycle, the application of these treatment technologies in WRPs, to meet the stringent effluent discharge standards, would result in greater energy consumption [11]. The goal of the current study is to assess the renewable energy generation potential of a satellite WRP with the addition of solar photovoltaics (PVs) and anaerobic digestion to offset this energy consumption.…”

An Analysis of Energy Consumption and the Use of Renewables for a Small Drinking Water Treatment Plant

“…A PV system with a 1.5 MW capacity with battery storage (30 MWh) was found to have a positive net present value and a levelized cost of electricity of 3.1 cents kWh −1 . A net reduction in the carbon emissions was found as 950 and 570 metric tons of CO 2 -eq year −1 due to the PV-based design, with and without battery storage, respectively.Water 2020, 12, 28 2 of 21 consumption of drinking water and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been evaluated by various studies [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Ref.…”

“…Ref. [8,9] determined the energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions for water reuse plants and WWTPs, respectively, whereas [11] utilized metafrontier data envelopment analysis to analyze the energy efficiency of DWTPs. Ref.…”

“…Water 2020, 12, 28 2 of 21 consumption of drinking water and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been evaluated by various studies [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Ref.…”