Towards Water and Energy Self-Sufficiency: a Closed-Loop, Solar-Driven, Low-Tech Laundry Pilot Facility (LaundReCycle) for the Reuse of Laundry Wastewater

Devi Buehler (), Nadine Antenen, Matthias Frei, Christoph Koller, Diederik P. L. Rousseau, Andreas Schoenborn and Ranka Junge
Additional contact information
Devi Buehler: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Nadine Antenen: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Matthias Frei: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Christoph Koller: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Diederik P. L. Rousseau: Ghent University
Andreas Schoenborn: Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Ranka Junge: Zurich University of Applied Sciences

Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2021, vol. 1, issue 3, 1037-1051

Abstract: Abstract In the scope of this study, a pilot facility for the recycling of laundry effluent was developed and tested. With the aim to enable nearly complete energy and water self-sufficiency, the system is powered by a photovoltaic plant with second-life batteries, treats the wastewater within the unit and constantly reuses the treated wastewater for washing in a closed cycle. The technology for wastewater treatment is based on a low-tech approach consisting of a physical/mechanical pre-treatment and biological treatment in trickling filter columns. The treatment process is operated in batch mode for a capacity of five washing cycles per day. During five weeks of operation water quality, energy consumption and production, water losses and washing performance were monitored. The system recovered 69% of the used water for the washing machine while treating the wastewater to the necessary water quality levels. The average COD removal rate per cycle was 92%. Energy analysis was based on modelled data of the monitored energy consumption. With the current set-up, an internal consumption rate of 80% and self-sufficiency of 30% were modelled. Future developments aim at increasing water and energy self-sufficiency and optimizing the water treatment efficiency.

Keywords: Greywater treatment; Wastewater reuse; Laundry wastewater; Biological wastewater treatment; Self-sufficiency; Off-grid solar power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-021-00077-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:circec:v:1:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s43615-021-00077-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43615

DOI: 10.1007/s43615-021-00077-2

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Circular Economy and Sustainability from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().