Abstract
Wastewater effluents are great contributors to the ubiquitous problem of water contamination. Seen as one of the “greener” technology solutions, coagulation/flocculation technology utilises alternative coagulants of “green” origin. A life cycle assessment was performed in order to provide an environmental performance evaluation of three differently produced coagulants obtained from common bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgaris). The aim of the research was to compare production processes by identifying their hot spots and to determine which one was preferable from the ecological aspect. Furthermore, coagulation activity was determined and presented. The production processes included classic and ultrasound extraction, performed with 0.5 M NaCl solution as an extraction agent, and spray drying process conducted without or with carrier material (gum Arabic). Coagulant obtained by ultrasound extraction and dried with the help of carrier material, showed the lowest impact on the environment (around 50% lower than coagulants dried without carrier) while achieving high coagulation activity (61.5% of initial turbidity was reduced by the usage of 1 mL/L coagulant concentration). The life cycle assessment showed the highest impact from the production of all three types of coagulants originated from the electricity consumption mostly within spray drying phase (around 90% of total environmental impact originated from the mentioned phase). The coagulant production process has a relatively low environmental burden due to low chemical consumption, and it consisted of only a few simple production steps. Furthermore, possible improvements and optimisation of the production process hot spots were considered.
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Acknowledgements
The research has been supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, through the project number 451-03-68/2022-14/200156: “Innovative scientific and artistic research from the FTS (activity) domain” and by the Innovation Fund, Republic of Serbia, ID 5156 through the project Proof of Concept.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Life cycle inventory data
The life cycle inventory data for are listed in Table 2 for KNO, Table 3 for UNO, and in Table 4 for GA.
Appendix 2: Life cycle impact assessment and uncertainty analysis results
The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results are provided in Table 5 for KNO, Table 6 for UNO, and in Table 7 for GA. The LCIA results for grinding and screening phase are provided in Table 8, for extraction phase in Table 9, and for spray drying phase in Table 10. The LCIA uncertainty results for grinding and screening phase are provided in Table 11, for extraction phase in Table 12, and for spray drying phase in Table 13.
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Radovic, S., Sekulic, M.T., Agarski, B. et al. Life cycle assessment of new bio-based coagulant production for sustainable wastewater treatment. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 7433–7462 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04440-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04440-0