Energy and reliability analysis of wastewater treatment plants in small communities in Ontario

This paper presents energy and reliability analyses of eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operating in small communities in Ontario, Canada, with rated capacities ranging from 60 to 4,400 m³/d. Five different treatment technologies were investigated, namely, rotating biological contactor (RBC), sequencing batch reactor (SBR), membrane bioreactor (MBR), lagoon, and extended aeration activated sludge process (EAAS). Energy benchmarking based on key performance indicators (KPIs) was used to quantify the specific consumption of energy in WWTPs per unit of the pollutant removed. The overall annual electrical energy consumption was correlated to the volume of treated wastewater, the population equivalent, and the amounts of TSS and BOD removed. The RBC plants showed a distinctive advantage for all energy KPIs assessed, while SBR plants yielded the highest values of energy KPIs. Analyses of the expected percentage of compliance with discharge standards and the coefficient of reliability (COR) based on the WWTPs' performance records showed that few WWTPs were able to achieve reliability levels over 95%, considering the mandated discharge standards under the current operating and maintenance conditions. Within each technology, the treatment train, operating conditions, maintenance level, and age of infrastructure were important elements that contributed to the large variability observed.