Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-9-2024
Publication Title
ACS Environmental Au
DOI
10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00017
Abstract
Point-of-use (POU) water disinfection technologies can be adopted to provide access to safe drinking water by treating water at the household level; however, navigating various POU disinfection technologies can be difficult. While numerous conventional POU devices exist, emerging technologies using novel materials or advanced processes have been under development and claim to be of lower cost with higher treatment capacity. However, it is unclear if these claims are substantiated and how novel technologies compare to conventional ones in terms of cost and environmental impacts when providing the same service (i.e., achieving a necessary level of disinfection for safe drinking water). This research assessed the sustainability of four different POU technologies (chlorination using sodium hypochlorite, a silver-nanoparticle-enabled ceramic water filter, ultraviolet mercury lamps, and ultraviolet light-emitting diodes). Leveraging open-source Python packages (QSDsan and EXPOsan), the cost and environmental impacts of these POU technologies were assessed using techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment as per capita cost (USD·cap-1·yr-1) and global warming potential (kg CO2 eq·cap-1·yr-1). Impacts of water quality parameters (e.g., turbidity, hardness) were quantified for both surface water and groundwater, and uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were used to identify which assumptions influence outcomes. All technologies were further evaluated across ranges of adoption times, and contextual analysis was performed to evaluate the implications of technology deployment across the world. Results of this study can potentially provide valuable insights for decision-makers, nonprofit organizations, and future researchers in developing sustainable approaches for ensuring access to safe drinking water through POU technologies.
Recommended Citation
Elijah, Bright C., Ali Ahmad, Yalin Li, Jaime Plazas-Tuttle, Lewis Stetson Rowles.
2024.
"Assessing the Relative Sustainability of Point-of-Use Water Disinfection Technologies for Off-Grid Communities."
ACS Environmental Au, 4 (5): American Chemical Society.
doi: 10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00017
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/civil-eng-facpubs/95
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Georgia Southern University faculty member, Lewis S. Rowles co-authored, "Assessing the Relative Sustainability of Point-of-Use Water Disinfection Technologies for Off-Grid Communities."