Assessing greenhouse gas emissions from the printing and dyeing wastewater treatment and reuse system: Potential pathways towards carbon neutrality

Jiaer Mao; Haoyu Chen; Xiangyang Xu; Liang Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172301

Assessing greenhouse gas emissions from the printing and dyeing wastewater treatment and reuse system: Potential pathways towards carbon neutrality

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jun 1:927:172301. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172301. Epub 2024 Apr 8.

Authors

Jiaer Mao¹, Haoyu Chen¹, Xiangyang Xu², Liang Zhu³

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Water Pollution Control, Hangzhou 310058, China.
³ College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan 314100. China; Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Water Pollution Control, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: felix79cn@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 38599411
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172301

Abstract

The urgency of achieving carbon neutrality needs a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the textile industry. Printing and dyeing wastewater (PDWW) plays a crucial role in the textile industry. The incomplete assessment of GHG emissions from PDWW impedes the attainment of carbon neutrality. Here, we firstly introduced a more standardized and systematic life-cycle GHG emission accounting method for printing and dyeing wastewater treatment and reuse system (PDWTRS) and proposed possible low-carbon pathways to achieve carbon neutrality. Utilizing case-specific operational data over 12 months, the study revealed that the PDWTRS generated 3.49 kg CO₂eq/m³ or 1.58 kg CO₂eq/kg COD_rem in 2022. This exceeded the GHG intensity of municipal wastewater treatment (ranged from 0.58 to 1.14 kg CO₂eq/m³). The primary contributor to GHG emissions was energy consumption (33 %), with the energy mix (sensitivity = 0.38) and consumption (sensitivity = 0.33) exerting the most significant impact on GHG emission intensity respectively. Employing prospective life cycle assessment (LCA), our study explored the potential of the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to reduce emissions by 0.54 kg CO₂eq/m³ and the solar-driven photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR) to decrease by 0.20 kg CO₂eq/m³ by 2050. Our projections suggested that the PDWTRS could achieve net-zero emissions before 2040 through an adoption of progressive transition to low-carbon management, with a GHG emission intensity of -0.10 kg CO₂eq/m³ by 2050. Importantly, the study underscored the escalating significance of developing sustainable technologies for reclaimed water production amid water scarcity and climate change. The study may serve as a reminder of the critical role of PDWW treatment in carbon reduction within the textile industry and provides a roadmap for potential pathways towards carbon neutrality for PDWTRS.

Keywords: Greenhouse gas emission; Life cycle assessment; Low-carbon pathways; Net-zero emissions; Printing and dyeing wastewater.