Techno-Economic Evaluation of Ozone Application to Reduce Sludge Production in Small Urban WWTPs

Dafne Crutchik, Oscar Franchi, David Jeison, Gladys Vidal, Alicia Pinto, Alba Pedrouso and José Luis Campos
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Dafne Crutchik: Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Santiago 7941169, Chile
Oscar Franchi: Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Santiago 7941169, Chile
David Jeison: Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Av. Brasil 2085, Valparaíso 2362803, Chile
Gladys Vidal: Engineering and Biotechnology Environmental Group, Environmental Science Faculty & EULA—Chile Center, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4070411, Chile
Alicia Pinto: ESVAL S.A., Cochrane 751, Valparaíso 2361810, Chile
Alba Pedrouso: CRETUS Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
José Luis Campos: Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Santiago 7941169, Chile

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: In Chile, small wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (treatment capacity of less than 4,800 m 3 /d) are normally not designed with consideration for the potential valorization of generated sludge. For this reason, they are generally operated at high solids residence times (SRT) (15 d) to promote the decay of biomass, promoting less sludge production and reducing the costs associated with biomass management. Operation at high SRT implies the need for a larger activated sludge system, increasing capital costs. The implementation of a sludge-disintegration unit by ozonation in future WWTPs could enable operation at an SRT of 3 d, with low sludge generation. In this work, we evaluate how the implementation of a sludge-ozonation system in small WWTPs (200–4000 m 3 /d) would affect treatment costs. Four scenarios were studied: (1) a current WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, without a sludge ozonation system; (2) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would achieve zero sludge production; (3) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 3 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would provide the same sludge production as scenario 1; (4) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would achieve zero sludge production. Economic analysis shows that the treatment costs for scenarios 1 and 2 are similar, while a reduction in cost of up to 47% is obtained for scenarios 3 and 4.

Keywords: disintegration process; ozonation; sludge reduction; sludge retention time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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