Research progress on multi-objective comprehensive evaluation of urban wastewater treatment processes
With the rapid development of the wastewater treatment industry,various treatment technologies emerge in endlessly,which have largely solved the pollution problem and caused environmental impacts.In order to select more efficient wastewater treatment technologies,various evaluation methods have been applied in the wastewater treatment industry under the background of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization.This review summarizes the current research situation of environmental and economic impact evaluation which are widely used in urban wastewater treatment plant(WWTP)and proposes the"5E"assessment system based on the existing research.At present,the assessment system mainly focuses on the environmental impact assessment based on life cycle assessment,focusing on the impact of eutrophication potential,global warming potential,and energy consumption on traditional and unconventional wastewater treatment technologies in WWTP.Economic evaluation is mainly divided into cost and benefit evaluation.Through the analysis of cost and profit in economic evaluation,the energy cost is very important in each treatment process,where the recovery and utilization of biogas can effectively improve the profit.In addition,carbon footprint assessment and organic contaminants toxicity evaluation have gradually become the research hotspot.In each part of this article,the evaluation of technology in wastewater treatment process is mentioned.At last,the"5E"assessment system(i.e.,comprehensive environmental impact assessment,economic evaluation,carbon footprint evaluation,organic contaminants toxicity evaluation,and technology evaluation)is proposed to effectively solve the multi-objective comprehensive assessment problem of the urban WWTP.This research can support the sustainable development of the wastewater treatment industry and the realization of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization targets.