title: Life cycle assessment of nutrient removal technologies for the treatment of anaerobic digestion supernatant and its integration in a wastewater treatment plant.
abstract: The supernatant resulting from the anaerobic digestion of sludge generated by wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is an attractive flow for technologies such as partial nitritation-anammox (CANON), nitrite shortcut (NSC) and struvite crystallization processes (SCP). The high concentration of N and P and its low flow rate facilitate the removal of nutrients under more favorable conditions than in the main water line. Despite their operational and economic benefits, the environmental burdens of these technologies also need to be assessed to prove their feasibility under a more holistic perspective. The potential environmental implications of these technologies were assessed using life cycle assessment, first at pilot plant scale, later integrating them in a modeled full WWTP. Pilot plant results reported a much lower environmental impact for N removal technologies than SCP. Full-scale modeling, however, highlighted that the differences between technologies were not relevant once they are integrated in a WWTP. The impacts associated with the WWTP are slightly reduced in all categories except for eutrophication, where a substantial reduction was achieved using NSC, SCP, and especially when CANON and SCP were combined. This study emphasizes the need for assessing wastewater treatment technologies as part of a WWTP rather than as individual processes and the utility of modeling tools for doing so.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: gonzalo.garcia@kit.edu.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Santa Marta, Dorsoduro 2137, 30121 Venice, Italy. Electronic address: nicola.frison@unive.it.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Frison
authors.affiliation: Aqualia, R+D Department, EDAR Lagares, Avda. Ricardo Mella 180, 36213 Vigo, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: jvazquezp@fcc.es.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Padín
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: almudena.hospido@usc.es.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hospido
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: juanmanuel.garrido@usc.es.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Garrido
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 15, I-37134 Verona, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.fatone@univr.it.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fatone
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 15, I-37134 Verona, Italy. Electronic address: david.bolzonella@univr.it.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bolzonella
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: maite.moreira@usc.es.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: gumersindo.feijoo@usc.es.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Feijoo
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen; D010758:Phosphorus; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: CANON; Modeling; Nitrite short-cut; Side stream treatment; Struvite crystallization process