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Life cycle inventory practices for major nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon flows in wastewater and sludge management systems

  • WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon originating from wastewater and sludge can, depending on their partitioning during wastewater treatment, either become available as potential resources or leave as emissions. Several reviews have highlighted the dependence of life cycle assessment (LCA) results on the inventory data. To provide a foundation for future assessments of systems in which resources are utilised from wastewater or sludge, this paper identifies common practice and highlights deficiencies in the selection and quantification of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon containing flows.

Methods

Inventories of major direct flows containing nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon in 62 studies on wastewater and sludge management operations have been reviewed. A special focus was put on flows of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon originating from the wastewater and sludge and on how these are either leaving the system as emissions and hereby contributing to environmental impacts, or how potential resource flows of these elements are accounted for, in particular when sludge is used in agriculture.

Results and discussion

The current study shows a large variation between studies regarding what resource and emission flows were included in inventories on wastewater and sludge treatment, the type of data used (primary or secondary data) and, when flows have been modelled rather than measured, how the modelling has been done. Except for nitrogen and phosphorus emissions via the effluent, which were generally quantified using measured data or data modelled to represent the specific situation, direct emissions to air from the water and sludge lines at the wastewater treatment plant were mostly estimated using secondary data, sometimes of poor data quality. In systems where resources were recovered through agricultural application of sludge, studies often credited the system for avoided use of mineral fertiliser, but the considered replacement ratio differed.

Conclusions

The current review identified increased completeness and specificity in the modelling of the evaluated flows as particularly relevant for future studies and highlighted a need for improved transparency of data inventories. The review can be used as a support for LCA analysts in future studies, providing an inventory of common practices and pinpointing deficiencies, and can thereby support more conscious and well-motivated choices as regard which flows to include in assessments and on the quantification of these flows.

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Notes

  1. Amount of oxygen required to chemically oxidize organic and inorganic compounds present in a sample, commonly applied to indirectly measure the amount of organic matter.

  2. Another indirect measure of organic matter, as COD, but indicating just levels of biodegradable organic material.

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Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) under grant agreement no. 2012-1122. Göteborgs Stad Kretslopp och Vatten, the Swedish Water & Wastewater Association, Gryaab AB, The Käppala Association, Stockholm Vatten AB, Sydvästra Stockholmsregionens va-verksaktiebolag (Syvab), Uppsala Vatten och Avfall AB and VASYD are also greatly acknowledged for financial support.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

    Sara Heimersson, Magdalena Svanström & Gregory Peters

  2. Water Research Institute, IRSA-CNR, viale De Blasio 5, 70132, Bari, Italy

    Giuseppe Laera

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  1. Sara Heimersson
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Correspondence to Sara Heimersson.

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Heimersson, S., Svanström, M., Laera, G. et al. Life cycle inventory practices for major nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon flows in wastewater and sludge management systems. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21, 1197–1212 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1095-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1095-8

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