Comparative life cycle assessment of sequential chemical and electrochemical processes for the treatment of industrial textile wastewater

Fenton-based processes, chemical and electrochemical, have attracted the interest of industrial and academic researchers for wastewater treatment. However, the deficiency of rigorous comparison between different methods, including assessment of their impact on the environment, has hindered their large-scale application. This study reports for the first time on the sustainability of raw textile wastewater treatment through two sequential processes, Coagulation-Flocculation-Fenton-Neutralization (CF-F-N) and Coagulation-Flocculation-Electro-Fenton-Neutralization (CF-EF-N), based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The CF-F-N and CF-EF-N were optimized at laboratory scale and compared through LCA, using the IPCC-2013 and ReCiPe-2016 midpoint and endpoint methods. The highest CO₂ emissions relied on the wastewater primary treatment by CF. This due to the high amount of hazardous sludge generated and the technology necessary for its disposal (i.e., 16.89 kg CO₂-Eq/FU for underground deposit in security cells or 47.52 kg CO₂-Eq/FU for incineration) as well as the consumption of reagents required for the treatment (alum, 7.72 kg CO₂-Eq/FU; and slaked lime, 5.56 kg CO₂-Eq/FU). Regarding the sequential processes, the EF-N presented lower carbon footprint (CFP) than the F-N (14.74 kg CO₂-Eq/FU vs. 20.74 kg CO₂-Eq/FU). Electricity (87.02% of the total CFP) and reagents (88.63% of the total CFP) denoted the main environmental hotspot during the EF-N and F-N, respectively. The EF-N, compared to the F-N, had an inferior incidence in 14 of the 18 impact categories analyzed using the ReCiPe-2016 method at the midpoint level. This is the result of low consumption of reagents and auxiliary chemicals. The electricity was also found as main environmental hotspot of the EF-N. The ReCiPe-2016 method at the endpoint level showed that the EF-N resulted in lower environmental load in all impact categories. The economic performance (11.91 USD/m³ for CF-EF-N vs. 13.66 USD/m³ for CF-F-N) and LCA demonstrated the competitiveness of the electrochemical sequential process compared to the chemical one. The CF-EF-N can be considered more environmentally sustainable technology.