Systems ecological accounting for wastewater treatment engineering: Method,indicator and application |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Humanities and Economic Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China;2. Laboratory for Systems Ecology, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;3. NAAM Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;4. Department of Mathematics, Quaid-i-Azam University 45320, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan;1. Environmental Studies Program, Biology Department, Oberlin College, Adam Joseph Lewis Center, 122 Elm Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, United States;2. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN 55108, United States;1. UF Center for Environmental Policy, 102 Phelps Laboratory, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116530, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6350, USA;2. US EPA ORD, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH, 45268, USA |
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| Abstract: | Wastewater treatment facility is vital for sustainable urban development. In the course of removing contaminants and discharging ready-for-reuse water, wastewater treatment consumes resources and triggers environmental emission during its lifetime. A comprehensive framework to analyze the embodied ecological elements as natural resources and environmental emissions of wastewater treatment is presented in this work. The systems method as a combination of process and input–output analyses is applied and a set of indicators are accordingly devised. Two representative ecological elements, i.e., greenhouse gases emissions and solar emergy of alternative wastewater treatment systems, i.e., a traditional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant and a constructed wetland have been taken into consideration. For each ecological element, five indicators have been calculated and compared to assess the impact on climate change and resources utilizing style of the case systems. The framework raised in this paper is fully supportive for optimal decision-making among different wastewater treatment technologies, and could be transplanted to be applied to systems ecological accounting for other production systems. |
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| Keywords: | Wastewater treatment Constructed wetland Systems ecological accounting Resources use Environmental emissions Embodied ecological element |
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