TY - JOUR
T1 - Advances in technological control of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater in the context of circular economy
AU - Pahunang, Rekich R.
AU - Buonerba, Antonio
AU - Senatore, Vincenzo
AU - Oliva, Giuseppina
AU - Ouda, Mariam
AU - Zarra, Tiziano
AU - Muñoz, Raul
AU - Puig, Sebastià
AU - Ballesteros, Florencio C.
AU - Li, Chi Wang
AU - Hasan, Shadi W.
AU - Belgiorno, Vincenzo
AU - Naddeo, Vincenzo
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors would like express sincere gratitude to: i) University of Salerno (FARB grants: ORSA11328, 300393FRB18NADDE and 300393FRB17NADDE); ii) Inter-University Centre for Prediction and Prevention of Relevant Hazards (Centro Universitario per la Previsione e Prevenzione Grandi Rischi, C.U.G.RI.); iii) regional government of Castilla y León and the EU-FEDER (CLU 2017-09); iv) Catalan Government (Serra Hunter Fellow (UdG-AG-575), ICREA Academia and 2017-SGR-1552) and the Spanish Ministry of Science (RTI2018-098360-B-I00); v) Department of Science and Technology-Engineering Research for Development and Development (DOST-ERDT); vi) University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) for the Ph.D. scholarship grant and sandwich program awarded to Rekich R. Pahunang.
Funding Information:
Authors would like express sincere gratitude to: i) University of Salerno (FARB grants: ORSA11328 , 300393FRB18NADDE and 300393FRB17NADDE ); ii) Inter-University Centre for Prediction and Prevention of Relevant Hazards (Centro Universitario per la Previsione e Prevenzione Grandi Rischi, C.U.G.RI.); iii) regional government of Castilla y León and the EU- FEDER ( CLU 2017-09 ); iv) Catalan Government (Serra Hunter Fellow ( UdG-AG-575 ), ICREA Academia and 2017-SGR-1552 ) and the Spanish Ministry of Science ( RTI2018-098360-B-I00 ); v) Department of Science and Technology-Engineering Research for Development and Development (DOST-ERDT); vi) University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) for the Ph.D. scholarship grant and sandwich program awarded to Rekich R. Pahunang.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/10/20
Y1 - 2021/10/20
N2 - This review paper aims to identify the main sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and highlights the technologies developed for CO2 capture in this milieu. CO2 is emitted in all the operational units of conventional WWTPs and even after the disposal of treated effluents and sludges. CO2 emissions from wastewater can be captured or mitigated by several technologies such as the production of biochar from sludge, the application of constructed wetlands (CWs), the treatment of wastewater in microbial electrochemical processes (microbial electrosynthesis, MES; microbial electrolytic carbon capture, MECC; in microbial carbon capture, MCC), and via microalgal cultivation. Sludge-to-biochar and CW systems showed a high cost-effectiveness in the capture of CO2, while MES, MECC, MCC technologies, and microalgal cultivation offered efficient capture of CO2 with associate production of value-added by-products. At the state-of-the-art, these technologies, utilized for carbon capture and utilization from wastewater, require more research for further configuration, development and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the integration of these technologies has a potential internal rate of return (IRR) that could equate the operation or provide additional revenue to wastewater management. In the context of circular economy, these carbon capture technologies will pave the way for new sustainable concepts of WWTPs, as an essential element for the mitigation of climate change fostering the transition to a decarbonised economy.
AB - This review paper aims to identify the main sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and highlights the technologies developed for CO2 capture in this milieu. CO2 is emitted in all the operational units of conventional WWTPs and even after the disposal of treated effluents and sludges. CO2 emissions from wastewater can be captured or mitigated by several technologies such as the production of biochar from sludge, the application of constructed wetlands (CWs), the treatment of wastewater in microbial electrochemical processes (microbial electrosynthesis, MES; microbial electrolytic carbon capture, MECC; in microbial carbon capture, MCC), and via microalgal cultivation. Sludge-to-biochar and CW systems showed a high cost-effectiveness in the capture of CO2, while MES, MECC, MCC technologies, and microalgal cultivation offered efficient capture of CO2 with associate production of value-added by-products. At the state-of-the-art, these technologies, utilized for carbon capture and utilization from wastewater, require more research for further configuration, development and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the integration of these technologies has a potential internal rate of return (IRR) that could equate the operation or provide additional revenue to wastewater management. In the context of circular economy, these carbon capture technologies will pave the way for new sustainable concepts of WWTPs, as an essential element for the mitigation of climate change fostering the transition to a decarbonised economy.
KW - Carbon capture
KW - Carbon storage
KW - Greenhouse gas
KW - Wastewater
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108320867&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148479
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148479
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34465066
AN - SCOPUS:85108320867
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 792
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 148479
ER -