Wastewater resources management for energy recovery from circular economy perspective

Abstract

To remediate significant risks such as increasing resources consumption, climate change, and environmental pollutions which affect resource management and security, energy recovery from wastewater could be a feasible approach towards the circular economy (CE). Wastewater management for energy recovery creates an exceptional opportunity which bringing environmental, political, economic, and social benefits. Transition to CE addresses many of the wastewater reuse obstacles and energy recovery barriers, from public acceptance to financial and policy management. This review focuses on the energy recovery from wastewater resources as a potential alternative in the CE framework and evaluates different energy recovery technologies. Since decision makers have to address challenges which are more related to the societal, regulatory, and political aspects prior to execute fundamental actions, the practical strategies on implementation of energy recovery from wastewater emphasizing the period of 2010–2020 are proposed. Furthermore, several successful case studies for energy recovery from wastewater as a systematic approach, which cover all potential scenarios are reviewed.