Life cycle assessment comparison of industrial effluent management strategies

While the most intense treatment option was able to reduce AOX by 99.6% and COD by 99.9%, the FWAE and eutrophication categories had a reduction of only 98.6% and 94.2%, respectively. The GHG emissions were heavily influenced by sludge landfilling contributing between 39% and 71% of overall emissions, with electricity production becoming significant as treatment intensity increased. The alternatives considered were able to produce a recycled water stream composed of 3%-100% of treated effluent. Configurations using RO produced effluent with sufficient quality to be used in recycled water applications without dilution. Configurations with ultrafiltration as the highest level of treatment could produce a recycled water stream composed of 35%-81% treated effluent. Contaminant discharge impacts, water recovery and GHG emissions did not have a single optimal configuration. The study demonstrates the ability of this model to identify marginal tradeoffs between environmental impacts.