Page 174 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Fungal Treatment of Pharmaceuticals in Effluents 155

cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) covers these aspects and includes LCA, life
cycle costing (LCC), and social life cycle analysis (SLCA) (Hossainet al., 2008;
Rebitzer et al., 2004). Typical environmental effects that can be assessed using LCA
include global warming, the formation of photo-chemical oxidants, acidification,
eutrophication, and fossil fuel use. The photochemical oxidant formation impact
category reflects the effects of photo-oxidant emissions derived during the process.
Acidification reflects the emission of acidifying substances, and eutrophication is
defined as the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances,
such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system;
that is, ground-water reservoirs or streams (Coats et al., 2011; Mu et al., 2010; Spatari
et al., 2010).
The environmental impacts of the conventional wastewater treatment methods
with different configurations have been investigated thoroughly using the LCA
technique (Foley et al., 2010; Buonocore et al., 2016; Corominas et al., 2013;
Yıldırım and Topkaya, 2012). Assessing different technology configurations, sev-
eral authors reported that the energy consumption has the main influence on the
overall environmental profile (Foley et al., 2010), followed by the impact of water
discharge to rivers and sludge application to land (Pasqualino et al., 2009). To the
best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no LCA study existing so far on the fun-
gal treatment of the wastewater. In addition, the LCA studies on similar biologic
treatments are very scarce and limited in scope in terms of the defined boundar-
ies, excluding solids handling, and the process configurations considered (Foley
et al., 2010; Zang et al., 2015). The environmental performance of wastewater
sludge treatment alternatives, considering the sludge handling, disposal pro-
cesses, and potential benefits resulting from the replacement of synthetic fertil-
izers by biosolids, has also been investigated (Yıldırım and Topkaya, 2012; Foley
et al., 2010; Yoshida et al., 2013; Concepción et al., 2012). However, other sludge
management techniques have also been suggested for sewage sludge, including
incineration with the final destruction of organic substances and deactivation of
the sludge (Wenzel et al., 2008).

8.7.2 suggesTions for iMpleMenTaTions of successful lca

on fungal TreaTMenT of pHarMaceuTicals
Significant uncertainties exist in LCA studies of emerging technologies, which are
very likely to increase the complexity of decision-making processes. In LCA, seri-
ous difficulties can arise during the evaluation phase; that is, when the effect scores
of different impact categories are weighed against each other. In addition, LCA is a
highly data-intensive method, and its success depends on the availability of precise
data, which is still an issue in state-of-the-art processes such as fungal treatment of
wastewater. LCI data are still not available for many PhAC chemicals, particularly
for transformed chemicals. To conduct a successful LCA on the fungal treatment
of pharmaceuticals, and due to the process complexity, several simplifications and
assumptions are necessary. The first concern would be the LCI step. LCI, which is
typically the most time-consuming phase of an LCA study, imposes the greatest
uncertainty.