Abstract
An innovative wastewater treatment system was analyzed for system costs, energy requirements, and energy production. The system integrates the land application of wastewater on poplar trees with composting of the primary sludge using woodchips from the poplars. System outputs, from which revenue can be generated, include firewood and compost. Costs and energy use were compared with those associated with a traditional system using trickling filters and land disposal of sludge. Additionally, the sensitivity of costs to the discount rate, to revenues from the compost and firewood, and to land prices was evaluated. Results indicated that the innovative system could be economically competitive with the conventional system if some revenues were obtained from the firewood and compost. And, energy use by the innovative system was 35% less than for the conventional system. Comparative costs were most sensitive to land prices and compost revenues, less sensitive to firewood revenues, and showed almost no sensitivity to the discount rate.
Published Version
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