Author： Wallis-Lage C. Barnard J.L. deBarbadillo C.
Publisher： Water Environment Federation
ISSN： 1938-6478
Source： Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, Vol.2009, Iss.8, 2009-01, pp. : 6752-6769
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Abstract
The move towards carbon neutrality in wastewater treatment plants is commendable but the energy cost of biological treatment is sometimes exaggerated which may lead to less cost-effective carbon reduction than that which could be achieved elsewhere. Wastewater treatment should be seen as a resource for recovery of energy, nutrients and water for re-use. This paper tries to put energy use and green house gas (GHG) emissions at wastewater treatment plants in perspective by comparing outputs on a per capita basis. It is shown that the energy use for biological nutrient removal, excluding pumping and other peripherals is less than 0.1% of all energy use and that overall reduction in water consumption is much more important in terms of energy savings and reduction of GHG emissions.
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