Energy recovery and efficiency improvement for an activated sludge, agro-food WWTP upgrade

摘要

Wastewater treatment’s primary purpose is to protect surface water quality, aquatic life, beneficial and recreationaluses of waterways, and primarily comply with local water emission standards. Lately, additionalrequirements were added for these facilities, concerning minimization of a series of sidestream environmentalimpacts (i.e., odours, generated waste by-products, etc.), air emissions, including CO_2, methane and nitrogengreenhouse gases (GHGs), and mitigation of various other likely impacts resulting from energy and chemicaluse in treatment processes. This paper describes a case study in Northern Europe, where critical analysis ofan industrial wastewater treatment plant’s present conditions, during an evaluation of upgrade possibilities toimprove regulatory compliance, led to a sustainable intervention proposal. According to the formulated proposal,process improvement, energy recovery, and overall savings and GHG emissions reduction could be simultaneouslyachieved with a series of relatively simple interventions.