Get in sanitation 2.0 by opportunity of rural China: Scheme, simulating application and life cycle assessment

Abstract

This study advances a scheme of sanitation 2 system (S2S) basing on vacuum source-separation to manage the rural waste and wastewater of Changshu, China. The advanced San-2 technology system parts the whole regional rural waste and wastewater into three parallel logistic streams, biogenic waste, other waste, and light grey water. A simulating application of S2S in a township area of Changshu is studied and evaluated by using the life cycle assessment method within the proposed framework and assumptions. Both the systems are divided into four parts: collection, treatment, termination and added processes. And the results show that San-2 has extraordinary advantages of environmental performance over conventional sanitation system (CSS), and the damage scores of the former are 27%, 54%, 27% and 37% as those of the latter with regarding the impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources respectively. The environmental impact of the CSS is mainly sourced from the added processes, while that of the S2S is mainly from collection and treatment process. Sensitivity analysis shows that the ammonia emission rate and canceling biogas production are the key factor for the S2S, and the settlement population is the critical factor for the CSS. Facing the huge demands of the rural China, the S2S and the rural China are an opportunity to each other, and it is urged to setup encouraging policies for S2S to break up the dictatorship of the CSS.