Report

Life Cycle Assessment of resources from wastewater

Wastewater is a potential source of numerous materials. To provide insight into the environmental benefits and drawbacks of resource recovery from wastewater, CE Delft conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), focusing on extraction of phosphate using struvite and incinerator fly ash and on recovery of PHA, cellulose and alginate. The analysis shows that all these routes have environmental benefits, enabling an assessment to be made of the environmental sustainability of the so-called Energy and Raw Materials Factory. The study was carried out in collaboration with Witteveen+Bos and KNN Consultants for Stowa and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.