Cost and Carbon Implications of Industrial Organic Load Reduction across Water Resource Recovery Facility Typologies

The valorization of waste organics through upstream treatment
of
high-strength industrial wastewaters is being pursued to reduce the
costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of food and beverage (F&B)
industries, the fourth-highest carbon-intensive manufacturing subsector
in the U.S. However, industrial wastewater valorization may have unintended
impacts on centralized water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs)
that either enhance or undermine efforts to advance the sustainability
of waste organic management. Here, we characterize the environmental
and economic impacts of industrial organic loading reductions on centralized
WRRFs via process modeling, life cycle assessment (LCA), and techno-economic
analysis (TEA) under uncertainty. We demonstrate sustainability benefits
of upstream organic carbon valorization will be amplified at WRRFs
designed for BOD removal and nitrification but undermined at biological
nutrient removal (BNR) or enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) WRRFs. Through
uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, we find that operational cost
changes at WRRFs following industrial load reduction are driven by
unit electricity cost, solids disposal cost, and blower efficiencyalong
with external carbon addition in nutrient removal systemswhile
changes in GHG emissions are primarily driven by grid carbon intensity
and fugitive methane emissions. A national spatial linkage of 4500
F&B facilities to their nearest WRRFs highlights regional clusters
where industrial pretreatment could most improve WRRF sustainability.