Abstract

Abstract Against the background of drastically rising global water demand and increasing pollution and overexploitation of regional water resources, the demand-driven water supply of households and industry is of central importance. Water reuse and desalination are seen as key technologies to overcome potential regional and local water shortage. In the joint projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ‘Future-oriented Technologies and Concepts to Increase Water Availability by Water Reuse and Desalination (WavE)’, evaluation approaches for analysing innovative technologies and concepts are being developed and assessed. All evaluation methods and criteria used were selected based on the decision situation at hand and the decision-makers preferences. Based on the analysis of six multi-criteria evaluation concepts used in selected WavE projects, this paper presents a general approach for comparative multi-criteria evaluation of water reuse systems consisting of prerequisites, minimum requirements, evaluation criteria (qualitative, semi-quantitative or quantitative) and a final aggregation of results. Exemplary sets of criteria for the application in a more industrial, municipal and/or international context are presented as an aid for the application of holistic evaluation approaches for (process) concept and technology selection in the context of water reuse and desalination.

Highlights

  • The need for targeted and safe water reuse solutions is increasing worldwide

  • In the joint projects of the funding measure ‘Future-oriented Technologies and Concepts to Increase Water Availability by Water Reuse and Desalination (WavE)’ by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), suitable evaluation approaches were developed for different user groups and local target settings, taking into account the respective decision-making situation

  • In order to evaluate technical alternatives within the six WavE projects under consideration, qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative criteria from the fields environment, social issues and economy are combined in accordance with the triple bottom line (TBL) model of sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN

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Summary

Introduction

The need for targeted and safe water reuse solutions is increasing worldwide. Decisions on the implementation of innovative technologies and concepts for water reuse and desalination are regularly marked by conflicting goals between economic, technical, environmental and socio-political considerations. In the joint projects of the funding measure ‘Future-oriented Technologies and Concepts to Increase Water Availability by Water Reuse and Desalination (WavE)’ by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), suitable evaluation approaches were developed for different user groups and local target settings, taking into account the respective decision-making situation. Depending on the application case and object of evaluation, different evaluation methods are applied, to assist operators, customers and plant constructors in various phases of the planning process in making decisions and to provide target group-oriented results

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