Sustainable Wastewater Treatment for Households in Small Communities

Abstract

The paper is a comprehensive review on the wastewater treatment processes focused on the energy performance and energy efficiency. Extensive studies reported in literature, including results from our Renewable Energy Systems and Recycling R&D Center, are selected to give a clear view on the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and advanced wastewater treatment processes, from the energy consumption perspective. The challenges in terms of energy saving, process optimization and sustainable materials are presented. The traditional processes used in the wastewater plants have limited efficiency for removing the new organic pollutants and usually require environmental aggressive procedures (e.g. chlorination). Advanced wastewater treatments using common raw materials and renewable energy sources represent a sustainable answer to the problem raised by the resilient organic pollutants. So, the paper outlines that advanced wastewater treatment represents a suitable part of the strategy for planning nearly zero energy communities (nZEC).