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Biogas and photovoltaic solar energy as renewable energy in wastewater treatment plants: A focus on energy recovery and greenhouse gas emission mitigation

Authors :
Sevda Jalali Milani
Gholamreza Nabi Bidhendi
Source :
Water Science and Engineering, Vol 17, Iss 3, Pp 283-291 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2024.

Abstract

Globalization has led to a rapid rise in energy consumption, making climate change one of the world's most pressing issues. As wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) contribute to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs), this study estimated the total GHG emissions of WWTPs by classifying them as either direct or indirect carbon emissions. The effectiveness of the use of solar photovoltaic systems and biogas produced by WWTPs in increasing energy recovery and reducing GHG emissions was investigated. This study demonstrated that the use of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with a biogas flow of 9 120.77 m3/d and an activated sludge processing system (ASPS) reactor with a biogas flow of 14 004 m3/d, in addition to the energy production from the UASB reactor (6 421.8 MW⸱h per year) and the ASPS reactor (9 860.0 MW⸱h per year), yielded a reduction of 3 316.85 and 5 092.69 t of CO2 equivalent per year, respectively. Furthermore, the co-design of wastewater processes could be utilized to optimize biogas energy recovery. Moreover, the use of solar photovoltaic systems reduced GHG emissions from WWTPs. This is important to the transition to renewable energy because it resulted in a 10%–40% reduction in carbon emissions from WWTPs. Integrating renewable energy sources, biogas, and solar energy could provide up to 88% of the annual energy requirements of WWTPs. Recommendations are provided for further research considering the limited availability of integrated resources for studying the simultaneous utilization of photovoltaic and biogas systems.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
16742370
Volume :
17
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Water Science and Engineering
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.3e4c0872d3874d368c6ff95d7db2eaaa
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wse.2023.11.003