{"title":"Assessing the effect of local characteristics on environmental impacts of Constructed Wetlands by regionalized life cycle assessment","authors":"Lineker Max Goulart Coelho","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoleng.2024.107423","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The goal of this paper is to assess the effect of regional characteristics on the environmental sustainability of Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands using comparative regionalized Life Cycle Assessment. Regionalizaton was implemented in terms of input and outputs values, as well as considering impact assessment methods that consider regional aspects to estimate the environmental impact results. A case study for a Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands treating municipal wastewater was assumed, and the system was assessed considering the installation of the constructed wetland in 5 different countries with distinct characteristics in terms of technologies, geographic location, climate conditions and electricity mix. The comparative life cycle assessment results showed important variations among the countries, which highlights the importance of taking into account a regionalized approach in order to assess the local specificities properly. An average relative standard deviation of 59 % for all regionalized impact categories was identified when comparing the LCA for the case study for different countries. So, the study successfully showed the importance of regionalization in constructed wetlands assignments and provided relevant recommendations for system enhancements in order to reduce environmental impact according to regional characteristics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11490,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Engineering","volume":"209 ","pages":"Article 107423"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857424002489","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to assess the effect of regional characteristics on the environmental sustainability of Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands using comparative regionalized Life Cycle Assessment. Regionalizaton was implemented in terms of input and outputs values, as well as considering impact assessment methods that consider regional aspects to estimate the environmental impact results. A case study for a Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands treating municipal wastewater was assumed, and the system was assessed considering the installation of the constructed wetland in 5 different countries with distinct characteristics in terms of technologies, geographic location, climate conditions and electricity mix. The comparative life cycle assessment results showed important variations among the countries, which highlights the importance of taking into account a regionalized approach in order to assess the local specificities properly. An average relative standard deviation of 59 % for all regionalized impact categories was identified when comparing the LCA for the case study for different countries. So, the study successfully showed the importance of regionalization in constructed wetlands assignments and provided relevant recommendations for system enhancements in order to reduce environmental impact according to regional characteristics.
期刊介绍:
Ecological engineering has been defined as the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature. The journal is meant for ecologists who, because of their research interests or occupation, are involved in designing, monitoring, or restoring ecosystems, and can serve as a bridge between ecologists and engineers.
Specific topics covered in the journal include: habitat reconstruction; ecotechnology; synthetic ecology; bioengineering; restoration ecology; ecology conservation; ecosystem rehabilitation; stream and river restoration; reclamation ecology; non-renewable resource conservation. Descriptions of specific applications of ecological engineering are acceptable only when situated within context of adding novelty to current research and emphasizing ecosystem restoration. We do not accept purely descriptive reports on ecosystem structures (such as vegetation surveys), purely physical assessment of materials that can be used for ecological restoration, small-model studies carried out in the laboratory or greenhouse with artificial (waste)water or crop studies, or case studies on conventional wastewater treatment and eutrophication that do not offer an ecosystem restoration approach within the paper.