Comparative life cycle assessment of excreta management systems through composting and biomethanization : Case of a low-income tropical country
© 2024 The Authors This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
| Publié dans: | Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. - 1986. - 89(2024), 12 vom: 10. Juni, Seite 3237-3251 |
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| Format: | Article en ligne |
| Langue: | English |
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2024
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| Accès à la collection: | Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research |
| Sujets: | Journal Article Comparative Study Haiti LCA environment excreta health sanitation Sewage |
| Résumé: | © 2024 The Authors This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Low-income tropical regions, such as Haiti, grapple with environmental issues stemming from inadequate sanitation infrastructure for fecal sludge management. This study scrutinizes on-site sanitation systems in these regions, evaluating their environmental impacts and pinpointing improvement opportunities. The focus is specifically on systems integrating excreta valorization through composting and/or anaerobic digestion. Each system encompasses toilet access, evacuation, and sludge treatment. A comparative life cycle assessment was undertaken, with the functional unit managing one ton of excreta in Haiti over a year. Six scenarios representing autonomous sanitation systems were devised by combining three toilet types (container-based toilets (CBTs), ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines, and flush toilets (WC)) with two sludge treatment processes (composting and biomethanization). Biodigester-based systems exhibited 1.05 times higher sanitary impacts and 1.03 times higher ecosystem impacts than those with composters. Among toilet types, CBTs had the lowest impacts, followed by VIP latrines, with WCs having the highest impacts. On average, WC scenarios were 3.85 times more impactful than VIP latrines and 4.04 times more impactful than those with CBTs regarding human health impact. Critical variables identified include the use of toilet paper, wood shavings, greenhouse gas emissions, and construction materials |
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| Description: | Date Completed 16.08.2024 Date Revised 16.08.2024 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 0273-1223 |
| DOI: | 10.2166/wst.2024.184 |