Chalmers Conferences, LCM 2013

ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS: ACTIVATED SLUDGE, UASB AND STABILIZATION PONDS IN LATIN AMERICAN AND THE CARIBBEAN
F. Hernández-Padilla, P. Güereca-Hernández, A. Noyola

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


Environmental evaluation of water treatment systems was developed for
three technologies of wastewater treatment: activated sludge, upflow
anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB) and stabilization ponds. Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) was developed for 9 scenarios (S1 to S9) for the
current situation in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Results
show that S2, S5 and S8 (stabilization ponds) have greater impacts in global
warming potential (GWP) and photochemical oxidation due to CH4
emissions from anaerobic ponds, likewise S1, S4 and S7 (activated sludge)
have impacts in acidification and abiotic resource reduction due to
electricity consumption in the aeration tank. Scenarios with UASB reactors
have lower impacts in GWP and medium on formation of photochemical
oxidants.

Keywords


wastewater treatment; activated sludge; UASB; stabilization ponds; life cycle assessment

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