Life cycle assessment of powder and micro-grain activated carbon in a fluidized bed to remove micropollutants from wastewater and their comparison with ozonation
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: Journal of Cleaner Production
authors: Person
  surname: Igos
  given name: Elorri
authors: Person
  surname: Mailler
  given name: Romain
authors: Person
  surname: Guillossou
  given name: Ronan
authors: Person
  surname: Rocher
  given name: Vincent
authors: Person
  surname: Gasperi
  given name: Johnny
subject: Life cycle assessment
subject: fluidized bed
subject: micro-grain activated carbon
subject: micropollutants
subject: ozonation
subject: wastewater treatment
abstract: To tackle water micropollutant pollution, the development of an advanced wastewater treatment is necessary and should be supported by an environmental evaluation to guide decision-makers. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied in the literature for several technologies and highlighted the variability of results (e.g. site-specific conditions) and the limited (eco-)toxicity benefits compared to additional operating impacts. In this study, the LCA of an activated carbon (AC) adsorption process based on a fluidized bed (limiting AC usage) was performed to determine its optimal operating conditions (dosage, use of micro-grain – μGAC or powder – PAC) and environmental benefits compared to the common ozonation process. This study was based on pilot processes installed at the Seine Centre treatment plant (France), using sensitivity analyses to identify the conditions for choosing a technology. For the seven scenarios (fluidized bed with 10 and 20 mg/L, both for PAC and μGAC; ozonation with 0.6 and 0.9 gO3/gDOC; and pre-ozonation combined with μGAC), the operational impacts generated (energy and material use) and the impacts avoided (micropollutant removal) were evaluated for climate change, freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity (USEtox characterization factors for micropollutants complemented with literature data). The LCA results showed that the fluidized bed process should preferably be operated with μGAC rather than PAC. The advantage of μGAC adsorption compared to ozonation is negligible but could nevertheless be significant in European countries with a significant share of coal-based electricity (i.e. all countries except Sweden and France). As in most of the previous works, the (eco)toxicity impacts avoided were found to be negligible, but other substances, such as hormones and oxidation by-products, should be further considered and characterized to better represent the treatment performances. The combination of ozonation and μGAC adsorption on …
date: November 11, 2020
pages: 125067
date submitted: 2020-11-19 10:08:11
language: en
library catalog: ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production
type: Journal
alternative: Journal of Cleaner Production
identifier: DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125067
identifier: ISSN 0959-6526