Life-cycle assessment of wastewater treatment plants
Name
810191582-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
8.6 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
da72d5e8ea55bfb5c7a3d7ff81504f7a
Author(s)
Dong, Bo, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Eric E. Adams.
Date Issued
2012
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This thesis presents a general model for the carbon footprints analysis of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. In previous research, the issue of global warming is often related to traditional industries with high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, such as power plants and transportation. However, the analyses of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have drawn increasing attention, due to the intensive greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from WWTPs. WWTPs have been listed in the 7 th place for both methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) total emissions. In addition, WWTPs indirectly contribute to a huge amount of CO2 emissions. The final results have shown that more than half of the carbon footprints from the La Gavia WWTP are from the indirect emissions of CO2, which is caused by the intensive energy consumption. The direct emissions of CH4 and N2O combined contribute more than 30 percent of GHG emission. The finally section of the thesis compares the environmental impacts of the La Gavia WWTP with case of no WWTP at all. It has been concluded that although the La Gavia WWTP increased the total carbon footprints, it has much better control of eutrophication potential (EP).
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58).
Subjects
Civil and Environmental Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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