IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2019i1p116-d300846.html

Energy Recovery from Wastewater: A Study on Heating and Cooling of a Multipurpose Building with Sewage-Reclaimed Heat Energy

Author

Listed:
  • Daniele Cecconet

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Jakub Raček

    (AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • Arianna Callegari

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Petr Hlavínek

    (AdMaS Research Centre, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic)

Abstract

To achieve technically-feasible and socially-desirable sustainable management of urban areas, new paradigms have been developed to enhance the sustainability of water and its resources in modern cities. Wastewater is no longer seen as a wasted resource, but rather, as a mining ground from which to obtain valuable chemicals and energy; for example, heat energy, which is often neglected, can be recovered from wastewater for different purposes. In this work, we analyze the design and application of energy recovery from wastewater for heating and cooling a building in Brno (Czech Republic) by means of heat exchangers and pumps. The temperature and the flow rate of the wastewater flowing in a sewer located in the proximity of the building were monitored for a one-year period, and the energy requirement for the building was calculated as 957 MWh per year. Two options were evaluated: heating and cooling using a conventional system (connected to the local grid), and heat recovery from wastewater using heat exchangers and coupled heat pumps. The analysis of the scenarios suggested that the solution based on heat recovery from wastewater was more feasible, showing a 59% decrease in energy consumption compared to the conventional solution (respectively, 259,151 kWh and 620,475 kWh per year). The impact of heat recovery from wastewater on the kinetics of the wastewater resource recovery facility was evaluated, showing a negligible impact in both summer (increase of 0.045 °C) and winter conditions (decrease of 0.056 °C).

Suggested Citation

  • Daniele Cecconet & Jakub Raček & Arianna Callegari & Petr Hlavínek, 2019. "Energy Recovery from Wastewater: A Study on Heating and Cooling of a Multipurpose Building with Sewage-Reclaimed Heat Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:116-:d:300846
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/116/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/116/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhou, Daqing & Deng, Zhiqun (Daniel), 2017. "Ultra-low-head hydroelectric technology: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 23-30.
    2. Florian Kretschmer & Georg Neugebauer & Gernot Stoeglehner & Thomas Ertl, 2018. "Participation as a Key Aspect for Establishing Wastewater as a Source of Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Elías-Maxil, J.A. & van der Hoek, Jan Peter & Hofman, Jan & Rietveld, Luuk, 2014. "Energy in the urban water cycle: Actions to reduce the total expenditure of fossil fuels with emphasis on heat reclamation from urban water," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 808-820.
    4. Andrea G. Capodaglio & Gustaf Olsson, 2019. "Energy Issues in Sustainable Urban Wastewater Management: Use, Demand Reduction and Recovery in the Urban Water Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Guo, Xiaofeng & Hendel, Martin, 2018. "Urban water networks as an alternative source for district heating and emergency heat-wave cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 79-87.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Farzin Golzar & David Nilsson & Viktoria Martin, 2020. "Forecasting Wastewater Temperature Based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Technique and Monte Carlo Sensitivity Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Heino Pesch & Louis Louw, 2023. "Exploring the Industrial Symbiosis Potential of Plant Factories during the Initial Establishment Phase," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, January.
    3. Seo-Young Lee & Kyung-Min Bak & Seung-Hoon Yoo, 2024. "Comparison of the Roles of the South Korean and Japanese Electric Power Sectors in Their National Economies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-24, March.
    4. Fredrik Skaug Fadnes & Mohsen Assadi, 2024. "Utilizing Wastewater Tunnels as Thermal Reservoirs for Heat Pumps in Smart Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-35, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosa M. Llácer-Iglesias & P. Amparo López-Jiménez & Modesto Pérez-Sánchez, 2021. "Energy Self-Sufficiency Aiming for Sustainable Wastewater Systems: Are All Options Being Explored?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    2. van der Hoek, Jan Peter & Mol, Stefan & Giorgi, Sara & Ahmad, Jawairia Imtiaz & Liu, Gang & Medema, Gertjan, 2018. "Energy recovery from the water cycle: Thermal energy from drinking water," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 977-987.
    3. Hypolite, Gautier & Boutin, Olivier & Sole, Sandrine Del & Cloarec, Jean-François & Ferrasse, Jean-Henry, 2023. "Evaluation of a water network’s energy potential in dynamic operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Wang, Yongli & Li, Jiapu & Wang, Shuo & Yang, Jiale & Qi, Chengyuan & Guo, Hongzhen & Liu, Ximei & Zhang, Hongqing, 2020. "Operational optimization of wastewater reuse integrated energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Gong, Mingju & Zhao, Yin & Sun, Jiawang & Han, Cuitian & Sun, Guannan & Yan, Bo, 2022. "Load forecasting of district heating system based on Informer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    6. Hrvoje Dorotić & Kristijan Čuljak & Josip Miškić & Tomislav Pukšec & Neven Duić, 2022. "Technical and Economic Assessment of Supermarket and Power Substation Waste Heat Integration into Existing District Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-29, February.
    7. Bao, Bin & Chen, Wen & Wang, Quan, 2019. "A piezoelectric hydro-energy harvester featuring a special container structure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. Florian Kretschmer & Georg Neugebauer & Gernot Stoeglehner & Thomas Ertl, 2018. "Participation as a Key Aspect for Establishing Wastewater as a Source of Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    9. Marco Pellegrini & Augusto Bianchini, 2018. "The Innovative Concept of Cold District Heating Networks: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Jose M. Vindel & Estrella Trincado & Antonio Sánchez-Bayón, 2021. "European Union Green Deal and the Opportunity Cost of Wastewater Treatment Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Lavrič, Henrik & Rihar, Andraž & Fišer, Rastko, 2019. "Influence of equipment size and installation height on electricity production in an Archimedes screw-based ultra-low head small hydropower plant and its economic feasibility," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 468-477.
    12. Vilanova, Mateus Ricardo Nogueira & Magalhães Filho, Paulo & Balestieri, José Antônio Perrella, 2015. "Performance measurement and indicators for water supply management: Review and international cases," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-12.
    13. Zielinski, Michał & Myszkowski, Adam & Pelic, Marcin & Staniek, Roman, 2022. "Low-speed radial piston pump as an effective alternative power transmission for small hydropower plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1012-1027.
    14. Mattioli, A. & Gatti, G.B. & Mattuzzi, G.P. & Cecchi, F. & Bolzonella, D., 2017. "Co-digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sludge improves the energy balance of wastewater treatment plants: Rovereto case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 980-988.
    15. Li, Huidong & Zhou, Daqing & Martinez, Jayson J. & Deng, Zhiqun Daniel & Johnson, Kenneth I. & Westman, Matthew P., 2019. "Design and performance of composite runner blades for ultra low head turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1280-1289.
    16. Xiaofeng Guo & Alain Pascal Goumba & Cheng Wang, 2019. "Comparison of Direct and Indirect Active Thermal Energy Storage Strategies for Large-Scale Solar Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Kamil Pochwat & Sabina Kordana-Obuch & Mariusz Starzec & Beata Piotrowska, 2020. "Financial Analysis of the Use of Two Horizontal Drain Water Heat Recovery Units," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    18. Quaranta, Emanuele & Revelli, Roberto, 2018. "Gravity water wheels as a micro hydropower energy source: A review based on historic data, design methods, efficiencies and modern optimizations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 414-427.
    19. Jawairia Imtiaz Ahmad & Sara Giorgi & Ljiljana Zlatanovic & Gang Liu & Jan Peter van der Hoek, 2021. "Maximizing Thermal Energy Recovery from Drinking Water for Cooling Purpose," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Chen, Jinbo & Engeda, Abraham, 2021. "Standard module hydraulic technology: A novel geometrical design methodology and analysis for a low-head hydraulic turbine system, part II: Turbine stator-blade and runner-blade geometry, and off-design considerations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:116-:d:300846. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.