title: Selection of odour removal technologies in wastewater treatment plants: a guideline based on Life Cycle Assessment.
abstract: This paper aims at analysing the environmental benefits and impacts associated with the treatment of malodorous emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to two biological treatments, namely biofilter (BF) and biotrickling filter (BTF), two physical/chemical alternatives, namely activated carbon tower (AC) and chemical scrubber (CS), and a hybrid combination of BTF + AC. The assessment provided consistent guidelines for technology selection, not only based on removal efficiencies, but also on the environmental impact associated with the treatment of emissions. The results showed that biological alternatives entailed the lowest impacts. On the contrary, the use of chemicals led to the highest impacts for CS. Energy use was the main contributor to the impact related to BF and BTF, whereas the production of glass fibre used as infrastructure material played an important role in BTF impact. Production of NaClO entailed the highest burdens among the chemicals used in CS, representing ∼ 90% of the impact associated to chemicals. The frequent replacement of packing material in AC was responsible for the highest environmental impacts, granular activated carbon (GAC) production and its final disposal representing more than 50% of the impact in most categories. Finally, the assessment of BTF + AC showed that the hybrid technology is less recommendable than BF and BTF, but friendlier to the environment than physical/chemical treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: carolina.alfonsin@usc.es.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alfonsín
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Sede Dr. Mergelina, University of Valladolid, Dr Mergelina s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain. Electronic address: raquel.lebrero@iq.uva.es.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lebrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Sede Dr. Mergelina, University of Valladolid, Dr Mergelina s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain; School of Engineering, London South Bank University, UK. Electronic address: estradaj@lsbu.ac.uk.
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Estrada
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Sede Dr. Mergelina, University of Valladolid, Dr Mergelina s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain. Electronic address: mutora@iq.uva.es.
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands; CH2M Hill, Level 7, 9 Help Street, Chatswood, NSW 2067, Australia. Electronic address: Brat.Kraakman@ch2m.com.au.
authors.forename: N J R Bart
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Kraakman
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: Gumersindo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Feijoo
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 Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Moreira
mesh_terms: D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004777:Environment; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002606:Charcoal
keywords: Activated carbon; Biofiltration; Chemical scrubbing; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Odour abatement; Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)