Hanover Park WRP
Hanover Park, Illinois
There is considerable interest by utilities to establish carbon footprints of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, energy production, and carbon credits for wastewater treatment. The methodologies and methods are at an early stage and have a great deal of uncertainty and variability. In this paper, a systematic and summary methodology to determine the carbon footprint of a WWTP including at operating, construction, process sinks and emitters’ levels has been presented. The paper also presents a case study based on this systematic summary methodology to illustrate the tools used. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: 50k-100k, Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Environmental Impact, Plant Sustainability, Reduce Carbon Footprint, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions | No Comments »
Distributed water management describes integrated planning, design, and management using system infrastructure at various scales, based on an equitable approach that considers suitability and sustainability. This paper, based on research supported by the Water Environment Research Foundation, introduces distributed management in the context of sustainability, provides examples of where distributed approaches are being used to advance sustainability at the community level, and suggests principles and provides tools that practitioners can use to maximize value. Case studies that illustrate distributed management approaches include onsite reuse systems driven primarily by green building and sustainable design and managed decentralized systems, including either individual onsite systems, cluster systems, or a combination thereof. Examples include situations where traditional municipal utilities are incorporating distributed infrastructure approaches such as managed cluster systems, wastewater mining, and satellite reuse facilities. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Environmental Impact, Plant Sustainability, Reduce Carbon Footprint, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions | No Comments »
Wastewater reclamation produces a recycled product. The traditional linear approach to water resource management is increasingly proving to be unsustainable due to water stress being placed on urban water management. By nature reclamation is a process that reduces the energy consumed in the water cycle and therefore is the cornerstone of sustainability in the management of water resources. The value of reclaimed water includes the embodied energy that is reclaimed from the water cycle. This paper provides the methodology for establishing a value chain in determining the economic benefit of water reclamation and identifies ways for communities to take the first steps of this resource as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases, carbon footprint and a sustainable principle of water portfolio management. Until recently, the embodied energy in wastewater reclamation has been a hidden value not considered in a full life cycle analysis9. The value of reclaimed water includes the embodied energy that is reclaimed from the water cycle. When embodied energy in reclaimed water is accounted for over a 50 year life cycle term, at 12 cents per kilowatt-hour and not including interest it has a value between $8.5 to $14.8 million dollars per million gallons. The capital cost and operating cost for the reclaimed water infrastructure is a minimal cost when compared with the overwhelming operational energy recovery savings. If you want to truly be sustainable wastewater reclamation is the cornerstone that provides the greatest environmental benefit. Water conservation, while an important component of a sustainable water resources management plan does not provide the same value chain impact in terms of reducing the carbon footprint and does not reclaim the energy already embodied in the water product. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Environmental Impact, Plant Sustainability, Reduce Carbon Footprint, Reduce Energy Consumption, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions | No Comments »
Prince George’s County and their partners (U.S. EPA, City of Laurel, Prince George’s County Public Schools, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, and Patuxent River 4-H Center) have been collaborating on a comprehensive storm water management plan using Low Impact Development (LID) for urban retrofit and decentralized wastewater treatment system. The Demonstration Project was funded by a Congressional Earmark Grant of Total Project amount of $1,324,667 the Federal Grant portion is $993,500 (75%) and match portion is $331,167 (25%). LID is a concept that began in Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1990 as an alternative to traditional storm water Best Management Practices (BMP’s) installed at construction projects. The LID project components are an integrated storm water management approach using LID techniques to retrofit a mixed use, high density area and a decentralized wastewater treatment system. LID techniques can be simple, but cost effective instead of depending on expensive, and complicated collection, conveyance, storage and treatment systems. The LID techniques used in this project are bioretention cells, grass swales, rain barrels/cisterns, green roofs, Bayscaping, and permeable pavements. LID techniques can also play an important role in Smart Growth, Green Infrastructure, and Land Use Planning. The implementation of these techniques will reduce water consumption, run-off, and non-point sources. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Cost Effective, Environmental Impact, Innovative Approach to Urban Storm Water Management, Plant Sustainability, Reduce Carbon Footprint, Reduce Water Consumption | No Comments »
Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for wastewater treatment offer the advantages of superior effluent quality and a small footprint. The disadvantage is frequent membrane cleaning caused by membrane fouling that require higher labor and chemical demands when compared to conventional activated sludge process (CASP). The goal of this investigation was to operate MBR systems without chemicals, allowing a sustainable process at low costs. Microdyn-Nadir in cooperation with Darmstadt University has developed a unique non-chemical mechanical cleaning process (MCP). The MCP-process offers an operation of the MBR-Module with high flux rates up to 40 L/(m²×h) (23.6 gfd) continuous operation. For more than 20 months (test ongoing) no chemical cleanings have been performed. This process also allows for a significant flux increase of about 30 % in comparison to a standard MBR-application without MCP. The investigations showed that:
• the use of granulates
o has a positive effect on membrane permeability
o allows an operation at high flux levels
o does not negatively affect effluent quality
• the major task of a membrane in the MBR process is the rejection of biomass. This function was not affected by using granulates.
• granulates remove fouling layers via abrasive effects. The new method has a high potential for effective and economic fouling control of membranes. • in terms of sustainability no chemicals are required for a MBR operation using this new process technology (MCP). This makes it a sustainable operation without an impact on the environment. At the same time, costs can be reduced.
• The Mechanical Cleaning Processes is more cost efficient compared to chemical cleaning. The cost of chemicals and infrastructure can be eliminated. The membrane area can also be reduced as the membrane throughput is increased by about 28 %. These savings by far exceed the cost for granulates and granulate rejection by a screening process. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Cost Effective, Economical/Effective Fouling Control, Increased Flux, No Chemicals Required, Reduce Carbon Footprint | No Comments »