Life cycle assessment comparison of point-of-use water treatment technologies: solar water disinfection (SODIS), boiling water, and chlorination
Life cycle assessment comparison of point-of-use water treatment technologies: solar water disinfection (SODIS), boiling water, and chlorination
Numerous different point-of-use (POU) water treatment technologies exist that can remove, reduce or inactivate microbial pathogens present in untreated drinking water. However, there have been uncertainties as to which technology is best suited to rural populations. Environmental impacts of these technologies can bring further threats to rural communities, so the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is frequently used to compare different POU water treatment technologies. The present study uses LCA to compare three treatment options: solar water disinfection (SODIS) using a Transparent Jerrycan (TJC), boiling, and chlorination. A life cycle inventory database is created for each stage, calculating the embodied energy and transportation energy considering daily reliance for all the technologies. Direct carbon dioxide emission at the point of use of energy/fuel, particulate matter formation and smog formation analysis can help to implement the most appropriate technology. The life-cycle assessment in this study indicates that when considering the environmental impact associated with providing sufficient safe drinking water for a family of six over a period of 6 months, SODIS has been found to have better sustainability credentials as a water treatment technology (6.0 kg CO2e per functional unit) with low contribution in all the three impact categories, followed by chlorination (9.8 kg CO2 e per functional unit) and boiling water (6808 kg CO2e per functional unit).
Chlorination, Global warming potential, Life cycle assessment, SODIS, Drinking water
Nair, Sarita S.
77826aac-4552-424a-a5da-13a985800e31
Marasini, Ramesh
9af8dd30-6984-400d-aa5f-4749ca68729b
Buck, Lyndon
49b03b09-a98b-4edb-9b14-f5a8f6363971
Dhodapkar, Rita
918215bd-f447-4926-b724-8dde0b0a8bcd
Marugan, Javier
41a81799-5257-4496-96ce-4a60e26765ae
Lakshmi, K. Vijaya
44543dde-8b11-4793-9c97-b5a149b5b4fd
McGuigan, Kevin G.
9338997c-a40c-4886-8e0c-42ad3014a205
9 May 2023
Nair, Sarita S.
77826aac-4552-424a-a5da-13a985800e31
Marasini, Ramesh
9af8dd30-6984-400d-aa5f-4749ca68729b
Buck, Lyndon
49b03b09-a98b-4edb-9b14-f5a8f6363971
Dhodapkar, Rita
918215bd-f447-4926-b724-8dde0b0a8bcd
Marugan, Javier
41a81799-5257-4496-96ce-4a60e26765ae
Lakshmi, K. Vijaya
44543dde-8b11-4793-9c97-b5a149b5b4fd
McGuigan, Kevin G.
9338997c-a40c-4886-8e0c-42ad3014a205
Nair, Sarita S., Marasini, Ramesh, Buck, Lyndon, Dhodapkar, Rita, Marugan, Javier, Lakshmi, K. Vijaya and McGuigan, Kevin G.
(2023)
Life cycle assessment comparison of point-of-use water treatment technologies: solar water disinfection (SODIS), boiling water, and chlorination.
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 11 (3), [110015].
(doi:10.1016/j.jece.2023.110015).
Abstract
Numerous different point-of-use (POU) water treatment technologies exist that can remove, reduce or inactivate microbial pathogens present in untreated drinking water. However, there have been uncertainties as to which technology is best suited to rural populations. Environmental impacts of these technologies can bring further threats to rural communities, so the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is frequently used to compare different POU water treatment technologies. The present study uses LCA to compare three treatment options: solar water disinfection (SODIS) using a Transparent Jerrycan (TJC), boiling, and chlorination. A life cycle inventory database is created for each stage, calculating the embodied energy and transportation energy considering daily reliance for all the technologies. Direct carbon dioxide emission at the point of use of energy/fuel, particulate matter formation and smog formation analysis can help to implement the most appropriate technology. The life-cycle assessment in this study indicates that when considering the environmental impact associated with providing sufficient safe drinking water for a family of six over a period of 6 months, SODIS has been found to have better sustainability credentials as a water treatment technology (6.0 kg CO2e per functional unit) with low contribution in all the three impact categories, followed by chlorination (9.8 kg CO2 e per functional unit) and boiling water (6808 kg CO2e per functional unit).
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Accepted/In Press date: 25 April 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 April 2023
Published date: 9 May 2023
Keywords:
Chlorination, Global warming potential, Life cycle assessment, SODIS, Drinking water
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 489995
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489995
ISSN: 2213-3437
PURE UUID: 13a0789d-dd48-40df-a6e7-933123e39c85
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Date deposited: 13 May 2024 16:30
Last modified: 18 May 2024 02:12
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Contributors
Author:
Sarita S. Nair
Author:
Ramesh Marasini
Author:
Lyndon Buck
Author:
Rita Dhodapkar
Author:
Javier Marugan
Author:
K. Vijaya Lakshmi
Author:
Kevin G. McGuigan
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