Life cycle assessment of comparing different nutrient recovery systems from municipal wastewater: A path towards self-reliance and sustainability

Nutrient recovery systems can help to mitigate the negative effects of N and P in WW (wastewater), which when not recovered causes eutrophication in aquatic ecosystems. Using SimaPro (V9.3), the lifecycle assessment (LCA) of four nutrient recovery systems and sewage treatment plant (STP) were compared in this study. The findings showed that a fuel cell with a single-pot WW treatment system can function as a negative emission system with a global warming potential (GWP) of −234 gCO2 Eq./m3 of WW. Nutrient recovery reduces carbon footprint by 56–98% when compared to traditional fertilizers like diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea. One of the main conclusions of this research was that single-pot systems perform better for the environment than add-on systems, which suggests that microalgae could perform better for the environment in a single-pot system. Recovering nutrients from WW not only improves self-reliance in the economy by decrementing the fertilizer import but also saves the environment. [Display omitted] •LCA of four nutrient recovery methods were compared with conventional WW treatment.•GWP was lowest for the MFC at −234 g CO2 Eq./m3 of WW.•Nutrient recovery reduced the C footprint by 56–98%, when compared with urea and DAP.•91% reduction in eutrophication was achieved using nutrient recovery (MFC).