Comparison of environmental impacts of tertiary filtration technologies for advanced phosphorus removal via Life Cycle Assessment

Different technologies for tertiary wastewater treatment are compared in their environmental impacts with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Targeting low phosphorus concentration (50-120 µg/L) and disinfection of WWTP secondary effluent, this LCA compares high-rate sedimentation, microsieve, dual media filtration (all with UV disinfection), and polymer ultrafiltration or ceramic microfiltration membranes for upgrading the large-scale wastewater treatment plant Berlin-Ruhleben. Results show that mean effluent quality of membranes is highest, but at the cost of high electricity and chemicals demand and associated emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) or other air pollutants. In contrast, gravity-driven treatment processes require less electricity and chemicals, but can reach significant removal of phosphorus. In fact, the latter options will only lead to a minor increase of GHG emissions and energy demand compared to the existing pumping station or UV treatment.

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