Environmental impact analysis of organized industrial zone wastewater recycling plant with life cycle assessment method

The rapid development of industrial sites has resulted in large freshwater use and wastewater discharge. In this study, Life Cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out for wastewater recovery plant located in Turkey and monetization studies were realized. System boundaries are included pretreatment unit, biological treatment, dissolved air flotation (DAF), chemical treatment units, mechanical and sand filters, ultrafiltration (UF) unit, activated carbon unit, reverse osmosis unit and ultraviolet (UV) unit. The functional unit was selected as recycling of 1 m3 wastewater. Environmental impacts were evaluated using CML-IA (v.3.03) method built into SimaPro 8.5.0. software. The calculated impact indicators include element and fossil fuel based abiotic depletion potential (ADP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical creative oxidant potential (POCP)fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP), global warming potential (GWP, 100 years), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), human toxicity potential (HTP), marine aquatic toxicity potential (MAETP), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP). These impact categories are chosen because of its relevance to wastewater treatment. Results of study have proved that advanced treatment technology does not increase environment load and thereby technologies of reuse of water can be applied to water-scarce area intensively.