Carbon Footprint Analysis of Sewage Sludge Thermochemical Conversion Technologies

Liping Li, Guiyue Du, Beibei Yan, Yuan Wang, Yingxin Zhao, Jianming Su, Hongyi Li, Yanfeng Du, Yunan Sun (), Guanyi Chen, Wanqing Li and Thomas Helmer Pedersen
Additional contact information
Liping Li: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Guiyue Du: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Beibei Yan: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Yuan Wang: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Yingxin Zhao: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Jianming Su: Tianjin Huabo Water Affairs Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300301, China
Hongyi Li: Tianjin Huabo Water Affairs Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300301, China
Yanfeng Du: Tianjin Huabo Water Affairs Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300301, China
Yunan Sun: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
Guanyi Chen: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Wanqing Li: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
Thomas Helmer Pedersen: Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Thermochemical conversion technology for sewage sludge (SS) management has obvious advantages compared to traditional technologies, such as considerable volume reduction, effective pathogen elimination, and potential fuel production. However, few researchers conducted comparative research on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission performances of these technologies. This paper evaluates the lifecycle carbon footprints of three SS thermochemical conversion technologies, including hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) (Case 1), pyrolysis (Case 2), and incineration (Case 3) with software OpenLCA and Ecoinvent database. The results show that Case 1 has the smallest carbon footprint (172.50 kg CO 2eq /t SS), which indicates the HTL process has the best GHG emission reduction potential compared to other SS disposal routes. The biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of SS thermochemical conversion technologies is indirect emissions related to energy consumption. So the energy consumption ratio (ECR) of the three cases is calculated to assess the energy consumption performances. From the perspective of energy conversion, Case 1 shows the best performance with an ECR of 0.34. In addition, element balance analysis is carried out to deeply evaluate the carbon reduction performance of the three cases. This study fills the knowledge gap regarding the carbon footprints for SS thermochemical conversion technologies and provides a reference for future technology selection and policymaking against climate change in the SS management sector.

Keywords: sewage sludge; carbon footprint; energy consumption; thermochemical conversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4170/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4170/ (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:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4170-:d:1080360

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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