Karadirek I Ethem, Erkaya Onur, Ciggin Aslı S
Akdeniz University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, Antalya, Turkey.
Akdeniz University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering, Antalya, Turkey.
Waste Manag. 2025 Jun 15;201:114826. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114826. Epub 2025 Apr 23.
Sewage sludge management is a critical challenge requiring sustainable treatment solutions. Drying is an essential pre-treatment step for utilizing sludge in waste-to-energy systems. Although drying is an essential step in sludge management, it has often been represented in a simplified manner using general assumptions in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies aimed at evaluating environmental impacts and greenhouse gas emissions. In many assessments, sludge drying has been identified as the most environmentally burdensome stage of sludge management due to its high energy demand, with solar drying frequently proposed as a low-energy alternative. Given these findings, optimizing the environmental performance of the sludge drying process is crucial for reducing the overall life cycle impacts of sludge management. Accordingly, this study aims to compare the environmental impacts of thermal drying technologies (belt, fluidized bed, and rotary) and solar drying using a gate-to-gate LCA approach. Additionally, impact reduction scenarios were assessed, including renewable energy integration and adjusting the final solids content of sludge. The LCA was performed using the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H) method. Results indicate that using photovoltaic electricity and waste-incineration steam can significantly lower the environmental impacts of belt and rotary dryers, making them comparable to solar drying. On the other hand, solar drying's high land demand remains a major limitation. These findings provide key insights for decision-makers, helping optimize sludge drying processes with lower environmental impacts. The study highlights the importance of technology-specific strategies and renewable energy integration in wastewater treatment plants.
污水污泥管理是一项严峻挑战，需要可持续的处理解决方案。干燥是污泥在废物转化能源系统中利用的关键预处理步骤。尽管干燥是污泥管理中的关键步骤，但在旨在评估环境影响和温室气体排放的生命周期评估（LCA）研究中，它通常采用一般假设以简化方式呈现。在许多评估中，污泥干燥因其高能源需求被认定为污泥管理中对环境负担最大的阶段，太阳能干燥常被提议作为一种低能耗替代方案。鉴于这些发现，优化污泥干燥过程的环境绩效对于降低污泥管理的整体生命周期影响至关重要。因此，本研究旨在采用从原料到产品的生命周期评估方法，比较热干燥技术（带式、流化床和旋转式）与太阳能干燥的环境影响。此外，还评估了影响降低方案，包括可再生能源整合以及调整污泥的最终固体含量。生命周期评估采用ReCiPe 2016端点（H）方法进行。结果表明，使用光伏发电和垃圾焚烧蒸汽可显著降低带式和旋转式干燥机的环境影响，使其与太阳能干燥相当。另一方面，太阳能干燥对土地的高需求仍是一个主要限制因素。这些发现为决策者提供了关键见解，有助于优化污泥干燥过程，降低环境影响。该研究突出了特定技术策略和可再生能源整合在污水处理厂中的重要性。
