Page 175 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

156 Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment

There are different strategies to simplify the inventory analysis, depending on the
goal and scope of the study, the required level of detail, the acceptable level of uncer-
tainty, and the available resources (time, human resources, know-how, and budget).
Another simplification strategy is to reduce the effort for the LCI phase by applying
different cut-offs (i.e., deliberately excluding the effect of transformation chemicals
from the inventory analysis). Eventually, the simplified LCA should still give the
same insights for a given study as a detailed LCA, although at lower resolution. To
conduct a successful LCA, it is necessary to acquire the following information in the
following areas: process information, materials information, equipment information,
and water-sewage management. Process information includes the data from process
modeling, flow through the fungal bioreactor, process parameters such as hydraulic
retention time, kinetic data and removal efficiencies, correlation between the param-
eters (assumptions), and the energy use in different sectors. Material information
presents the data regarding the physical and chemical properties of the employed
materials, toxicity of materials and regulatory limits, life cycle toxicity, and eventu-
ally, energy use and the waste management techniques employed. Equipment infor-
mation can be obtained from dynamic simulation, current techno-economic and
design reports of similar technologies, and energy balances.
To sum up, the implementation of fungal treatment in WWTPs is interesting from
different sustainability aspects. Generally, employing biological treatments (for
phosphorus removal) results in a considerably lower amount of sludge to handle.
In addition, the biological sludge is considered to be less toxic compared with the
chemical sludge, with lower environmental impact (Coats et al., 2011). However, fun-
gal treatment is not necessarily environmentally benign. It is dependent on so many
factors, most of which are unknown. On the other hand, in areas of high population
with water scarcity, the importance of supplying water with high quality (for drink-
ing) might supersede the environmental relevance impacts. As a part of water man-
agement strategies, the environmental criteria must be considered to ensure that the
water is used rationally (either reclaimed water or fresh water) and is returning to the
environment in an acceptable condition (Amores et al., 2013; Meneses et al., 2010).

8.9 CONCLUSION
Pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical compounds in WWTP effluent come from dif-
ferent sources, including agroindustrial processes, pharmaceutical manufacturing,
livestock farms, fisheries, shrimp hatcheries, and hospitals. Acute toxic effects of
these compounds are unlikely, as the concentrations of these compounds in the envi-
ronment are in the range of nanograms to several milligrams per liter. However,
the potential risk of chronic effects cannot be neglected. The extensive contamina-
tion potential of PhACs necessitates the development of cost-effective and efficient
methods for the elimination of PhACs from effluent. Conventional WWTPs fail to
efficiently remove PhACs. Fungal biological treatment is an emerging alternative
treatment for these compounds in WWTP effluent. WRF have tremendous potential
for the removal of a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical and industrial pollutants.
Their degradation capability, which varies between different WRF species, is due
to the extracellular and non-specific nature of the enzyme system of WRF: LiP,