Wastewater Refinery: Producing Multiple Valuable Outputs from Wastewater

Sigrid Kusch-Brandt,Mohammad A T Alsheyab

doi:10.3390/j4010004

Abstract

A wastewater refinery is a multifunctional solution that combines different technologies and processing schemes to recover a spectrum of valuable materials from municipal or industrial wastewater. The concept of wastewater refinery introduces a new perspective on wastewater treatment and management. It aims at making the most of wastewater constituents by co-producing different worthful outputs, such as water, energy, nitrogen, sulfide, and phosphorous. This can turn the treatment of wastewater from a major cost into a source of profit. The wastewater refinery approach is well aligned with the concept of the circular economy. A case study on Qatar’s wastewater revealed the potential recovery of significant quantities of valuable resources embodied in the country’s wastewater. Valorization of organic constituents and the recovery of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfide should be given priority. To facilitate the adoption of the wastewater refinery concept, research is required to explore technical and economic bottlenecks.

Highlights

The goal of this paper is to present the concept of wastewater refinery with its main approach, key features, and benefits
When analyzing the nutrient contents, the findings showed that nitrogen and phosphorous contained in Qatari wastewater alone could have a market value of more than
A wastewater refinery aims at joint production of different marketable products based on wastewater as the resource, using advanced integrated processing schemes at one single location or within a network of facilities

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. As a result of the increasing pace of industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural activities during the last decades, water pollution and water scarcity have become critical issues of our modern societies [1]. To achieve a transition towards more sustainable development, new concepts of wastewater treatment are needed [2,3,4]. Sound management of wastewater unfolds to be an issue of even higher priority.

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Conclusion