Cost and Carbon Implications of Industrial Organic Load Reduction across Water Resource Recovery Facility Typologies

Abstract

The valorization of waste organics through upstream treatment of high-strength industrial wastewaters is being pursued to reduce the costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of food and beverage (F&B) industries, the fourth-highest carbon-intensive manufacturing subsector in the U.S. However, industrial wastewater valorization may have unintended impacts on centralized water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) that either enhance or undermine efforts to advance the sustainability of waste organic management. Here, we characterize the environmental and economic impacts of industrial organic loading reductions on centralized WRRFs via process modeling, life cycle assessment (LCA), and techno-economic analysis (TEA) under uncertainty. We demonstrate sustainability benefits of upstream organic carbon valorization will be amplified at WRRFs designed for BOD removal and nitrification but undermined at biological nutrient removal (BNR) or enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) WRRFs. Through uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, we find that operational cost changes at WRRFs following industrial load reduction are driven by unit electricity cost, solids disposal cost, and blower efficiency─along with external carbon addition in nutrient removal systems─while changes in GHG emissions are primarily driven by grid carbon intensity and fugitive methane emissions. A national spatial linkage of 4500 F&B facilities to their nearest WRRFs highlights regional clusters where industrial pretreatment could most improve WRRF sustainability.