eprintid: 10190058
rev_number: 7
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/19/00/58
datestamp: 2024-04-05 12:34:52
lastmod: 2024-04-05 12:34:52
status_changed: 2024-04-05 12:34:52
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Gupta, Rohit
creators_name: Lee, Susan
creators_name: Lui, Jade
creators_name: Sloan, William T
creators_name: You, Siming
title: Carbon footprint assessment of water and wastewater treatment works in Scottish islands
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B04
divisions: C05
divisions: F45
keywords: Water; Community; Islands; 
Global warming potential; Net zero; 
Life cycle assessment
note: Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
abstract: Quantifying the global warming potential of existing water infrastructure is an important step in realising the water industry's commitment to net-zero carbon. Whilst there has been an improved understanding of the global warming potential of centralized urban water infrastructure, rigorous analyses of smaller-scale rural systems are rare. This work adopts a life cycle assessment to ascertain the global warming potential of existing drinking water treatment works and wastewater treatment works associated with five Scottish islands: Arran, Iona, Jura, Barra, and Vatersay. The water systems, from source to sink, along with the use of chemicals, transportation, energy, and the reuse of waste products from water infrastructure are considered. The global warming potentials of the island's drinking water treatment works ranged from 0.18 to 0.79 kgCO2-eq/m3 of drinking water, while that for wastewater treatment works were 0.51 to 1.14 kgCO2-eq/m3 of wastewater. The global warming potential for water services on the islands can be as much as 7-times of that water services across Scotland as previously reported. Major global warming potential contributor in drinking water treatment works was the electricity consumed by the membrane bioreactors. The modelled direct emission of methane from sludge in septic tanks and for land reclamation made the largest contribution to global warming potential. It was also highly sensitive to model parameters, which highlights the need for a comprehensive exploration of process emissions from septic tanks and sludge handling. This analysis of existing rural water infrastructure is a baseline against which potential alternative low-carbon technology configurations can be compared.
date: 2024-04-15
date_type: published
publisher: Elsevier BV
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141650
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2261363
doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141650
lyricists_name: Gupta, Rohit
lyricists_id: RGUPA08
actors_name: Gupta, Rohit
actors_id: RGUPA08
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Journal of Cleaner Production
volume: 450
article_number: 141650
issn: 0959-6526
citation:        Gupta, Rohit;    Lee, Susan;    Lui, Jade;    Sloan, William T;    You, Siming;      (2024)    Carbon footprint assessment of water and wastewater treatment works in Scottish islands.                   Journal of Cleaner Production , 450     , Article 141650.  10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141650 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141650>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190058/1/Gupta%20et%20al.%20April%202024.pdf