Life cycle assessment of sequential microbial-based anaerobic-aerobic reactor technology developed onsite for...

Although biological treatment of textile effluent is a preferred option for industries avoiding toxic chemical sludge production and disposal, requirement of several extra pre-treatment units like neutralization, cooling systems or additives, results in higher operational cost. In the present study, a pilot scale sequential microbial-based anaerobic-aerobic reactor technology (SMAART) was developed and operated for the treatment of real textile effluent in the industrial premises in continuous mode for 180 d. The results showed an average ∼95% decolourization along with ∼92% reduction in the chemical oxygen demand establishing the resilience against fluctuations in the inlet parameters and climate conditions. Moreover, the pH of treated effluent was also reduced from alkaline range (∼11.05) to neutral range (∼7.76) along with turbidity reduction from ∼44.16 NTU to ∼0.14 NTU. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of SMAART with the conventional activated sludge process (ASP) showed that ASP caused 41.5% more negative impacts on environment than SMAART. Besides, ASP had 46.15% more negative impact on human health, followed by 42.85% more negative impact on ecosystem quality as compared to SMAART. This was attributed to less electricity consumption, absence of pre-treatment units (cooling and neutralization) and less volume of sludge generation (∼50%) while using SMAART. Hence, integration of SMAART within the industrial effluent treatment plant is recommended to achieve a minimum waste discharge system in pursuit of sustainability.