Holistic Framework for Sustainability Assessment of Water Treatment Plants
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Several technologies have been developed to improve the quality of potable water. These technologies involve the consumption of energy and chemical utilization. Therefore, safe water production from sustainable water treatment plants (WTPs) becomes required. This research focuses on using life cycle assessment (LCA) to benchmark the environmental impacts of WTPs. Most researchers conducted comparative studies to evaluate the environmental impacts of operation units in WTPs. This research presents a holistic overview of the environmental effects of the whole boundary of the WTPs to fill the knowledge gap that other researchers did not fill. The research outcomes have been compiled and analyzed to build a robust framework for the researchers and decision-makers concerned about evaluating the environmental impacts associated with WTPs. This framework will help remove the vagueness caused by the overlap of LCA’s phases. The outcomes revealed that the main environmental impact was caused by energy consumption. Some treatment units, such as pretreatment, contributed significantly to energy consumption compared to others. This research’s critical impact is establishing a guideline for evaluating the environmental effects of WTPs.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2024
Pages: 1201 - 1210
History
Published online: May 16, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Comparative studies
- Drinking water treatment
- Energy consumption
- Energy engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Management methods
- Methodology (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Quality control
- Research methods (by type)
- Sustainable development
- Water quality
- Water treatment
- Water treatment plants
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