Wastewater Treatment Life Cycle Analysis

During refining operations, desalting wastewater accounts for 10-30% of effluents and contains 40-70% of pollutants. The discharge of this treated water into receiving environments is controlled in accordance with standards. However, given the health and environmental risks involved, a multi-criteria, multi-stage analysis is required. The aim of this study is to assess the environmental performance of wastewater treatment, including the desalination process. To this end, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, with the Recipe, CML-IA, TRACI and USETOX evaluation methods, was used through the GaBi software. The results show that fossil fuel-based electricity generation is the main contributor to environmental impacts, accounting for 99%. Emissions (CO2, CO, NOx, SOx, VOC) increase the global warming potential of the greenhouse effect, the acidification potential of acid rain and the photochemical oxidation potential of smog. However, the results relating to human and ecosystem toxicity are not conclusive due to uncertainties.