Towards Water Resource Recovery Facilities : Environmentally Extended Techno-Economic Assessment of Emerging Sewage Sludge Management Technologies in Sweden

Abstract: Municipal sewage sludge (MSS) management varies widely between countries and legislative regimes. Within the European directive for sewage treatment France applies over half of MSS to arable land, while The Netherlands has banned the practice (Kelessidis et al, 2012). In Sweden, 34% of MSS is applied to agricultural lands; despite this, ocial government reports recommend banning the practice over pollution concerns, alongside the most common alternative of land reclamation (Ekane et al, 2020). This is the result of two decades of disagreement, complicated by dual perceptions of MSS as a valuable resource to be returned to the ecocycle vs an unsanitary waste product requiring careful disposal (Ekman Burgman, 2022).  Previous studies have analyzed novel treatment technologies including multiple forms of phosphorus and nitrogen extraction from various stages of MSS treatment, but holistic system analyses are scarce (Bagheri et al 2023). Based on literature review and emerging technologies in Sweden, hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) is identified as a keystone technology, and can be supported by secondary treatment via nitrogen stripping and phosphorus extraction from liquid and ash waste streams respectively. HTC is an anaerobic thermal treatment of wet organic waste resulting in solid hydrochar and liquid process water products. To address the lack of holistic assessments, an environmental and techno-economic assessment framework (ETEA) is applied to model three MSS treatment scenarios. Each scenario models treatment of MSS by anaerobic digestion (AD) and mechanical dewatering of digested sludge followed by:  REF: A reference case of storage and arable land application of dewatered digested sludge (DDS)  ALT1: DDS treatment by Oxypower HTC with Aqua2N nitrogen recovery from process and reject water.  ALT2: The treatment described by ALT1, followed by hydrochar mono-incineration and Ash2Phos phosphorus extraction.  ETEA is conducted in four stages using data collected from literature and public and private partners. Qualitative and quantitative process flow mapping defines the scenarios and models material and energy flows through the systems. An attributional comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) alongside techno-economic analysis (TEA) follows. The LCA has a gate to grave scope with a functional unit of one ton of total solids treated. Finally, results are evaluated using sensitivity and data uncertainty analysis to identify hotspots and knowledge gaps in the system.  Results combining alternative scenarios based on current trends show the potential of emerging technologies to multiply WWTP nitrogen and phosphorus recovery by five and two times respectively, while simultaneously improving net energy recovery by three times. LCA results show reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by between 60-70%. Considering emerging MSS technologies from a systems perspective provides critical context that can improve their economic viability. Combining intelligent systems design with these technologies, the models demonstrate how future MSS treatment can provide both good sanitation and recovery of nutrient and energy resources. Integration of these systems will accelerate the transition from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to water resource recovery facilities (WRRF).