Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process
Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in the biosphere, and it is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere vastly as a gaseous form, but only reactive nitrogen is usable for plants. It is a valuable resource and worth recovering in the wastewater sector. The...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Membranes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/13/1/87 |
| _version_ | 1797438801982783488 |
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| author | Judit Nagy Huyen Trang Do Thi Andras Jozsef Toth |
| author_facet | Judit Nagy Huyen Trang Do Thi Andras Jozsef Toth |
| author_sort | Judit Nagy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in the biosphere, and it is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere vastly as a gaseous form, but only reactive nitrogen is usable for plants. It is a valuable resource and worth recovering in the wastewater sector. The aim of this work was to prepare a comprehensive environmental analysis of a novel membrane contactor-based process, which is capable of highly efficient nitrogen removal from wastewater. Life cycle assessment (LCA), PESTLE and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were applied to evaluate the process. The EF 3.0 method, preferred by the European Commission, IMPACT World+, ReCiPe 2016 and IPCC 2021 GWP100 methods were used with six different energy resources—electricity high voltage, solar, nuclear, heat and power and wind energy. The functional unit of 1 m<sup>3</sup> of water product was considered as output and “gate-to-gate” analysis was examined. The results of our study show that renewable energy resources cause a significantly lower environmental load than traditional energy resources. TOPSIS score was used to evaluate the alternatives in the case of MCDA. For the EU region, the most advantageous option was found to be wind energy onshore with a score of 0.76, and the following, nuclear, was 0.70. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:43:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6dc8544bd01043df8fe52e727d367a85 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:43:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Membranes |
| spelling | doaj.art-6dc8544bd01043df8fe52e727d367a852023-11-30T23:27:02ZengMDPI AGMembranes2077-03752023-01-011318710.3390/membranes13010087Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery ProcessJudit Nagy0Huyen Trang Do Thi1Andras Jozsef Toth2Environmental and Process Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, HungaryEnvironmental and Process Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, HungaryEnvironmental and Process Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, HungaryNitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in the biosphere, and it is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere vastly as a gaseous form, but only reactive nitrogen is usable for plants. It is a valuable resource and worth recovering in the wastewater sector. The aim of this work was to prepare a comprehensive environmental analysis of a novel membrane contactor-based process, which is capable of highly efficient nitrogen removal from wastewater. Life cycle assessment (LCA), PESTLE and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were applied to evaluate the process. The EF 3.0 method, preferred by the European Commission, IMPACT World+, ReCiPe 2016 and IPCC 2021 GWP100 methods were used with six different energy resources—electricity high voltage, solar, nuclear, heat and power and wind energy. The functional unit of 1 m<sup>3</sup> of water product was considered as output and “gate-to-gate” analysis was examined. The results of our study show that renewable energy resources cause a significantly lower environmental load than traditional energy resources. TOPSIS score was used to evaluate the alternatives in the case of MCDA. For the EU region, the most advantageous option was found to be wind energy onshore with a score of 0.76, and the following, nuclear, was 0.70.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/13/1/87life cycle assessmentmembrane gas separationnitrogen recoverypestlemulti-criteria decision analysis |
| spellingShingle | Judit Nagy Huyen Trang Do Thi Andras Jozsef Toth Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process Membranes life cycle assessment membrane gas separation nitrogen recovery pestle multi-criteria decision analysis |
| title | Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process |
| title_full | Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process |
| title_fullStr | Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process |
| title_short | Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process |
| title_sort | life cycle pestle and multi criteria decision analysis of membrane contactor based nitrogen recovery process |
| topic | life cycle assessment membrane gas separation nitrogen recovery pestle multi-criteria decision analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/13/1/87 |
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