Cost Optimization of Wastewater and Septage Treatment Process

Beata Karolinczak, Rafał Miłaszewski and Wojciech Dąbrowski
Additional contact information
Beata Karolinczak: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 20 Nowowiejska St., 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Rafał Miłaszewski: Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw, 1/3 Wóycickiego St., 01-938 Warsaw, Poland
Wojciech Dąbrowski: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Bialystok University of Technology, 45E Wiejska St., 15-351 Bialystok, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-13

Abstract: Analysis of the current knowledge has revealed the lack of a method for increasing the cost-effectiveness of wastewater and septage treatment in plants overloaded by contamination. This was the premise for undertaking research on the process of septage pre-treatment in a subsurface vertical flow constructed wetland (SS-VF) prior to its input into the biological section of a municipal treatment plant. In previous research the authors have indicated that this allows for a significant reduction in the value of pollution indicators. The objective of this paper is to assess the cost-effectiveness of this process by means of an optimization model. The decision variable was the coefficient of septage stream distribution into the quantity directed to the SS-VF bed in relation to its total quantity. The optimization criterion was the minimization of the expected annual cost of wastewater and septage treatment. Verification of the model has shown that it is reasonable to subject all septage to the pre-treatment in a SS-VF bed for small wastewater treatment plant (WWTPs) located in rural areas. The bigger the septage pollution load is, the greater the reduction in the treatment costs. The proposed solution is less cost-effective in urban areas, where the construction of a SS-VF bed requires land purchase and additional costs of its adjustment. Optimization results largely depend on the cost function, so it is important to build it on reliable local data.

Keywords: cost optimization; wastewater treatment; septage treatment; vertical flow constructed wetland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6406/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6406/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6406-:d:456051

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().