Environmental impact assessment of a package type IFAS reactor during construction and operational phases: a life cycle approach

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 75; no. 10; pp. 2246 - 2256
• Main Authors: Singh, Nitin Kumar, Singh, Rana Pratap, Kazmi, Absar Ahmad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IWA Publishing 01-05-2017
• Subjects: Acidification; Activated sludge; Boundaries; Climate change; Construction; Depletion; Dissolved oxygen; Electricity consumption; Environmental impact; Environmental science; Eutrophication; Fresh water; Freshwater; Freshwater environments; Global warming; Indicators; Inland water environment; Life cycle; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Life cycle engineering; Life cycles; Methods; Municipal wastewater; Oxidation; Ozone; Ozone depletion; Ozone layer; Ozonosphere; Phases; Photochemicals; Photochemistry; Raw materials; Reactors; Research projects; Sludge; Stainless steel; Steel construction; Structural steels; Studies; Sustainability; Toxicity; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water pollution; Water treatment plants; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2017.110

In the present study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to analyse the environmental impacts associated with the construction and operational phases of an integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) reactor treating municipal wastewater. This study was conducted within the boundaries of a research project that aimed to investigate the implementation related challenges of a package type IFAS reactor from an environmental perspective. Along with the LCA results of the construction phase, a comparison of the LCA results of seven operational phases is also presented in this study. The results showed that among all the inputs, the use of stainless steel in the construction phase caused the highest impact on environment, followed by electricity consumption in raw materials production. The impact of the construction phase on toxicity impact indicators was found to be significant compared to all operational phases. Among the seven operational phases of this study, the dissolved oxygen phase III, having a concentration of ∼4.5 mg/L, showed the highest impact on abiotic depletion, acidification, global warming, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, fresh water eco-toxicity, marine aquatic eco-toxicity, terrestrial eco-toxicity, and photochemical oxidation. However, better effluent quality in this phase reduced the eutrophication load on environment.