Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study
The increasing share of renewables in electricity grids comes with a challenge of energy surpluses and deficits, which needs be handled by demand side management (DSM) and storage options. Within this approach, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), with flexible energy consumption and production proc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/16/3/483 |
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| author | Nilüfer Topuz Frank Alsmeyer Hasan Can Okutan Hermann-Josef Roos |
| author_facet | Nilüfer Topuz Frank Alsmeyer Hasan Can Okutan Hermann-Josef Roos |
| author_sort | Nilüfer Topuz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The increasing share of renewables in electricity grids comes with a challenge of energy surpluses and deficits, which needs be handled by demand side management (DSM) and storage options. Within this approach, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), with flexible energy consumption and production processes and storage units, can contribute to stabilizing the grids and integrating more renewables. In this study, the operation of a real WWTP was optimized by mixed integer linear programming (MILP) to minimize its indirect carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. The operation of the WWTP was shown to be flexible in following the CO<sub>2</sub> emission factor of the electricity grid, which was possible with the utilization of the WWTP’s storage units and flexible co-substrate feeding. As a result, by changing only the operational behavior of the WWTP, its indirect CO<sub>2</sub> emissions decreased by 4.8% due to the higher share of renewables in the electricity grid. The CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were shown to decrease further up to 6.9% by adding virtual storage units. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:46:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3d9c9091bc404ebd90225725394c47ff |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:46:43Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-3d9c9091bc404ebd90225725394c47ff2024-02-09T15:24:54ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412024-02-0116348310.3390/w16030483Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case StudyNilüfer Topuz0Frank Alsmeyer1Hasan Can Okutan2Hermann-Josef Roos3SWK E<sup>2</sup> Institute for Energy Technology and Energy Management, Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, 47805 Krefeld, GermanySWK E<sup>2</sup> Institute for Energy Technology and Energy Management, Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, 47805 Krefeld, GermanySynthetic Fuels & Chemicals Technology Center (ITU SENTEK), Ayazaga Campus, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul 34469, TurkeyKrefeld Disposal Company EGK, 47829 Krefeld, GermanyThe increasing share of renewables in electricity grids comes with a challenge of energy surpluses and deficits, which needs be handled by demand side management (DSM) and storage options. Within this approach, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), with flexible energy consumption and production processes and storage units, can contribute to stabilizing the grids and integrating more renewables. In this study, the operation of a real WWTP was optimized by mixed integer linear programming (MILP) to minimize its indirect carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. The operation of the WWTP was shown to be flexible in following the CO<sub>2</sub> emission factor of the electricity grid, which was possible with the utilization of the WWTP’s storage units and flexible co-substrate feeding. As a result, by changing only the operational behavior of the WWTP, its indirect CO<sub>2</sub> emissions decreased by 4.8% due to the higher share of renewables in the electricity grid. The CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were shown to decrease further up to 6.9% by adding virtual storage units.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/16/3/483wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)carbon reductionoptimizationdemand side management (DSM)load shifting |
| spellingShingle | Nilüfer Topuz Frank Alsmeyer Hasan Can Okutan Hermann-Josef Roos Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study Water wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) carbon reduction optimization demand side management (DSM) load shifting |
| title | Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study |
| title_full | Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study |
| title_fullStr | Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study |
| title_short | Role of Flexible Operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Reduction of Its Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions—A Case Study |
| title_sort | role of flexible operation of a wastewater treatment plant in the reduction of its indirect carbon dioxide emissions a case study |
| topic | wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) carbon reduction optimization demand side management (DSM) load shifting |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/16/3/483 |
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