Assessment of sludge management options in a waste water treatment plant

Abstract

This thesis is part of a larger project which began in response to a request by the Spanish water agengy, Cadagua, for advice on life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impacts of Cadagua operated wastewater treatment plants. The project uses the LCA software GaBi and focuses on La Gavia Wastewater Treatment Plant in Madrid. This thesis analyzes three sludge management options that La Gavia could have implemented: (1) cogeneration and incineration, (2) cogeneration and land application, and (3) Composting. Life cycle impacts of global warming potential, eutrophication, acidification, ozone layer depletion potential were calibrated using GaBi.