Emergy Analysis of Typical Decentralized Rural Sewage Treatment System: A Case Study of Soil Rapid Infiltration in Qingdao, China

Expand
  • College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China

Received date: 2016-03-21

  Online published: 2016-07-25

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China (41101080), the Shandong Natural Science Foundation (ZR2014DQ028 and ZR2015DM004)

Abstract

Decentralized sewage treatment systems are commonly used in rural areas of China because these systems are low cost, easy maintenance and high efficiency. However, as awareness of the importance of sustainable development has increased, questions concerning how to evaluate the sustainability of these systems has become a key point. In this study, emergy analysis is applied to evaluate the soil rapid infiltration for a decentralized rural sewage treatment plant that is located in Dongzhuangtou village, Qingdao, China. The results show that the environmental load ratio and the emergy sustainability index of the system are 0.07 and 242.88, respectively. The net economic benefit is 2.17E+18 sej·year-1 when converted into solar emjoule. Compared to other treatment systems, the environmental load ratio of the system is lower, and the emergy sustainability index is higher. This study reveals the reuse of treated water can produce great economic benefits in the soil rapid infiltration system. The environmental impact of the system is lower, and the sustainability is higher than that of other treatment systems. This result provides a quantitative evaluation of the sustainable development of rural sewage treatment systems in China.

Cite this article

YANG Ling, KONG Fanlong, XI Min, LI Yue, ZI Yuanyuan . Emergy Analysis of Typical Decentralized Rural Sewage Treatment System: A Case Study of Soil Rapid Infiltration in Qingdao, China[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2016 , 7(4) : 309 -316 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2016.04.010

References

[1] Arbault D, Rugani B, Tiruta-Barna L et al., 2013. Emergy evaluation of water treatment processes. Ecological Engineering, 60(60): 172-182.
[2] Arias ME, Brown MT, 2009. Feasibility of using constructed treatment wetlands for municipal wastewater treatment in the Bogota Savannah, Colombia. Ecological Engineering, 35(7): 1070-1078.
[3] Brown MT, Ulgiati S,1997. Emergy-based indices and ratios to evaluate sustainability: monitoring economies and technology toward environmentally sound innovation. Ecological Engineering, 9(1-2): 51-69.
[4] Brown MT, Ulgiati S, 2002. Emergy evaluations and environmental loading of electricity production systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 10(4): 321-334.
[5] Brown MT, Ulgiati S, 2004. Energy quality, emergy, and transformity: H T Odum’s contributions to quantifying and understanding systems. Ecological Modelling, 178(1-2): 201-213.
[6] Browne D, O’Regan B, Moles R, 2012. Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region. Ecological Economics, 83: 97-107.
[7] Björklund J, Geber U, Rydberg T, 2001. Emergy analysis of municipal wastewater treatment and generation of electricity by digestion of sewage sludge. Resources Conservation and Recycling, 31(4): 293-316.
[8] Campbell DE, Garmestani AS, 2012. An energy systems view of sustainability:emergy evaluation of the San Luis Basin, Colorado. Journal of Environmental Management, 95(1): 72-97.
[9] Chen B, Chen ZM, Zhou Y et al., 2009. Emergy as embodied energy based assessment for local sustainability of a constructed wetland in Beijing. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 14(2): 622-635.
[10] Dong Zhuangtou village sewage treatment station technical scheme of rural sewage treatment engineering in Qingdao City, 2007.
[11] Duan N, Liu XD, Dai J et al., 2011. Evaluating the environmental impacts of an urban wetland park based on emergy accounting and life cycle assessment: A case study in Beijing. Ecological Modelling, 222(2): 351-359.
[12] Guo ZY, He SN, Liu ZY, 2010. Phosphorus removal in improved constructed rapid infiltration. Technology of water treatment, 36 (6), 116- 118.(in Chinese)
[13] Grönlund E, Klang A, Falk S et al., 2004. Sustainability of wastewater treatment with microalgae in cold climate, evaluated with emergy and socio-ecological principles. Ecological Modelling, 22(3): 155-174.
[14] He AJ, Huang Y, 2010. Research Progress and Improvement of Rural Wastewater Treatment Technology. Environmental Science and Technology, 23(3):68-75. (in Chinese)
[15] Hou YX, Zhang JQ, Xu WL et al., 2014. Research on the phosphorus removal efficiency of constructed rapid infiltration system. Environmental Pollution & Control, 36(5), 29-32. (in Chinese)
[16] Li XF, Xu JQ, 2015. Reflection on that sewage treatment facilities are generally idle in rural areas, Beijing. Water& wastewater Engineering, 41(6), 48-50. (in Chinese)
[17] Liang HW, Liu JX, Wei YS et al., 2010. Evaluation of phosphorus removal from wastewater by soils in rural areas in China. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 22(1): 15-22.
[18] Liu GY, Zhang HZ, Zhang X et al., 2013. Development of total nitrogen removing technology in constructed rapid infiltration systems. Industrial water treatment, 33(3), 1-4. (in Chinese)
[19] Ma LM, Liu C, Cui CY et al., 2008. Optimizing operational parameter of constructed rapid infiltration system in urban wastewater treatment. Technology of water treatment, 34(6), 47-51. (in Chinese)
[20] Moldan B, Janoušková S, Hák T, 2012. How to understand and measure environmental sustainability: indicators and targets. Ecological Indicators, 17: 4-13.
[21] Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China. Integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB 8978-1996).
[22] http://www.stats.gov.cn
[23] Nelson M, Odum HT, Brown MT et al., 2001. ‘‘Living off the land’’: resource efficiency of wetland wastewater treatment. Advances in Space Research, 27(9): 1547-58.
[24] Odum HT, 1988. Self organization, transformity, and information. Science, 242(4882): 1132-9.
[25] Odum HT, 1996. Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making. Child Development, 42(4), 1187-201.
[26] Odum HT, Gainesville FI, 2000. Emergy of global processes. Handbook of emergy evalution: a compendium of data for emergy computation issued in a series of folios. Gainesville, Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida.
[27] Quan XC, Yang ZF, Tang Q, 2005. Development and Application of Decentralized Treatment Technology for Domestic Sewage. China water & wastewater, 21(4), 24-27. (in Chinese)
[28] Ridolfi R, Bastianoni S, 2008. Emergy. Encyclopedia of Ecology, 17(7): 1218-1228.
[29] Ridolfi R, Niccolucci V, Pulselli RM et al., 2005. The use of emergy indices in the environmental certification of a territory. In: Brown MT, Bardi E, Campbell D E, Comar V, Huang S, Rydberg T, Tilley D, Ulgiati S. (Eds.), Emergy Synthesis 3: Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology. Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Emergy Conference. Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, 513-518.
[30] Siracusa G, Rosa ADL, 2006. Design of a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment in Sicilian town and environmental evaluation using the emergy analysis. Ecological Modelling, 197(3-4): 490-497.
[31] Ton S, Odum HT, Delfino JJ, 1998. Ecological-economic evaluation of wetland management alternatives. Ecological Engineering, 11(1-4): 291- 302.
[32] Ulgiati S, Brown MT, 1998. Monitoring patterns of sustainability in natural and man-made ecosystems. Ecological Modelling, 108(1-3): 23-36.
[33] Vassallo P, Paoli C, Fabiano M, 2009. Emergy required for the complete treatment of municipal wastewater. Ecological engineering, 35(5): 687- 694.
[34] Vassallo P, Paoli C, Tilley DR et al., 2009. Energy and resource basis of an Italian coastal resort region integrated using emergy synthesis. Journal of Environmental Management, 91(1): 277-289.
[35] Yang Q, Chen GQ, Liao S et al., 2013. Environmental sustainability of wind power: an emergy analysis of a Chinese wind farm. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25: 229-239.
[36] Yue J, Li ZY, He TB, 2009. Research on nitrogen configuration forms and adsorptivity of filter in constructed rapid infiltration system. Guizhou agricultural sciences, 37(2): 40-42. (in Chinese)
[37] Zhang LX, Chen B, Yang ZF et al., 2009. Comparison of typical mega cities in China using emergy synthesis. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 14(6): 2827-2836.
[38] Zhang LX, Song B, Chen B, 2012. Emergy-based analysis of four farming systems: insight into agriculture diversification in rural China. Journal of Clean Production, 28: 33-44.
[39] Zhang LX, Ulgiati S, Yang ZF et al., 2011. Emergy evaluation and economic analysis of three wetland fish farming systems in Nansi Lake area,China. Journal of Environment Management, 92(3): 683-694.
[40] Zhang LX, Yang, ZF, Chen GQ, 2007. Emergy analysis of cropping- grazing system in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Energy Policy, 35(7): 843-855.
[41] Zhang LX, Yang ZF, Chen B et al., 2008. An analysis on urban ecological competition capability with biophysical accounting method. Acta Ecoogical Sinica, 28(9): 4344-4351. (in Chinese)
[42] Zhang XH, Wei Y, Pan HY et al., 2015. The comparison of performances of a sewage treatment system before and after implementing the cleaner production measure, Journal of Cleaner Production, 91: 216-228.
[43] Zhang XH, Wei Y, Li M et al., 2014. Emergy evaluation of an integrated livestock wastewater treatment system. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 92: 95-107.
[44] Zhou JB, Jiang MM, Chen B et al., 2009. Emergy evaluations for constructed wetland and conventional wastewater treatments. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 14(4): 1781-1789.
[45] Zou P, Wan SW, Qin P et al., 2004. A comparison of the sustainability of original and constructed wetlands in Yancheng Biosphere Reserve, China: implications from emergy evaluation. Environmental Science & Policy, 7(4): 329-343.
Outlines

/