A novel evaluation framework for energy neutrality potential of wastewater treatment plants

Towards China nationally determined contribution to carbon neutrality 2060, it is necessary to consider wastewater treatment plants. This kind of municipal facility consumes huge amounts of energy and emit greenhouse gases to remove pollutants. The main three pathways for decarbonization of the plants include energy reduction, energy recovery, and energy renewables. Energy neutrality would be primary to the carbon issues for the wastewater treatment facility.

Hongtao WANG and his research group in Tongji University proposed a framework for evaluating wastewater treatment plants from an integrated perspective in the study which is published in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering on Feb. 14, 2022. Two indicators were established based on the initial variables of wastewater, sludge, and energy inside the plants. The first indicator is energy self-sufficiency that reflects the offset degree of energy recovery. The second one is comprehensive water-energy efficiency which characterizes the efficiency of bidirectional conversion between water and energy in the plants. Based on this, the energy neutrality potential of plants was defined and assessed. Hongtao says:

“The study area was the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is an important area in China. We have extracted the operational data of 970 wastewater treatment plants in this area from the China Urban Drainage Yearbook 2018. There were 98 samples identified as energy benchmark, while 112 plants could be fully energy self-sufficient.”

Hongtao and his group will continue to work on the water-energy-carbon issues of wastewater treatment plants. Hongtao hopes to further predict the future trend and provide realistic optimization strategies for full-scale wastewater treatment plants. “Multi-source data collection and project validation will be carried out”, Hongtao says.

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About Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (FESE) is the leading edge forum for peer-reviewed original submissions in English on all main branches of environmental disciplines. FESE welcomes original research papers, review articles, short communications, and views & comments. All the papers will be published within 6 months since they are submitted. The Editors-in-Chief are Academician Jiuhui Qu from Tsinghua University, and Prof. John C. Crittenden from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. The journal has been indexed by almost all the authoritative databases such as SCI, Ei, INSPEC, SCOPUS, CSCD, etc.