Life-cycle assessment, carbon-footprint and techno-economic analysis

Abstract

Anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater has been recognized as a feasible technology to reduce energy demand from the valorization of streams with high-organic load. However, there are many factors that influence the environmental and economic profiles of the process, such as the effluent pollutant load, operating temperature and methane emissions in the treated effluent and in the air. Therefore, all these parameters must be optimized taking into account not only the technical performance (i.e. biogas production), but also environmental and economic implications. This chapter presents a dual approach to highlight the characteristics of anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater with life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis and how to approach these methodologies in diverse case studies.