Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

100% renewable wastewater treatment plants: Techno-economic

assessment using a modelling and optimization approach
Pietro Elia Campana a, Matia Mainardis b, *, Alessandro Moretti b, Mattia Cottes b
a
School of Business, Society & Engineering, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
b
Department Polytechnic of Engineering and Architecture (DPIA), Via del Cotonificio 108, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Renewable energies are being given increasing attention worldwide, as they are able to reduce the dependence
Wastewater treatment on depletable fossil fuels. At the same time, wastewater treatment is known to be a significantly energy-intensive
100% renewables sector, which could potentially exploit renewable energies conversion in different forms. This study investigated
Photovoltaic
the feasibility to design high renewable share wastewater treatment plants through dynamic simulations and
Hydrogen
Reverse osmosis
optimization, aiming to move towards greener and energy-wise wastewater remediation processes. The main aim
Mathematical modelling of the work was achieved by integrating photovoltaic systems with wind turbines, multi-energy storage tech­
nologies, i.e., batteries and hydrogen systems, and reverse osmosis tertiary treatment to absorb the power
production surpluses. It was supposed that, in the newly proposed scenario, most of the plant electricity need
would be covered by renewable energy. The optimization problem was multi-objective and found the trade-off
solutions between minimizing the net present cost and maximizing the renewable share. In the first part of the
study, the model was developed and applied to a medium-scale Italian municipal wastewater treatment plant.
Model generalization was successively accomplished by applying the model to different locations and plant scales
across the world. For all the investigated scenarios and cases, the optimal system integration was to design a
renewable and storage system with a renewable share of 70%, corresponding to the lowest net present cost. The
developed model is highly flexible and can be applied to other relevant case studies, boosting for a more sus­
tainable wastewater treatment sector, enhancing at the same time local renewable energy conversion.

1. Introduction with the capability to produce biogas in the anaerobic digestion (AD)
process, and can thus be seen as a locally available renewable energy
The energy-water nexus has become a hot topic in recent scientific source [4]. Biogas from AD of excess sludge and industrial wastewater
research, referring to all the processes where a strong connection be­ streams in WWTPs can provide on-site renewable energy conversion [5],
tween the water system and the energy sector exists [1]. The increase in with higher flexibility than that provided by solar and wind energy [6].
industrial energy demand pushes for an augment in renewable energy However, still the main focus in WWTPs daily management is linked to
utilization, thanks to government incentives and to public support [2], process optimization, rather than energy saving, and consequently
aiming to a global reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, able to additional research is needed to allow a wider renewable energy sources
contrast climate change. Hybrid renewable systems, including photo­ (RES) integration in the sector. The augmented energy tariffs push for
voltaic (PV) and wind turbine generation, together with hydrogen and energy optimization in WWTPs, in order to reduce the operating costs
battery storage, generally allow to obtain a good compromise between and the consumption of depletable resources, achieving carbon
the needed capital investment cost and the energy supply reliability [2]. neutrality [7]. Multi-step simulation-based methodologies can be useful
Among the various industrial processes, wastewater treatment plants in linking wastewater treatment processes with energy demand and
(WWTPs) are characterized by a relatively high electricity consumption conversion, improving plant performances and obtaining, in addition, a
(in the range of 1–5% of the total national electricity need) [3], coupled significant energy saving [8].
with a strongly dynamic behaviour, far from stationary conditions. Wastewater contains a high amount of chemical, thermal, and hy­
Moreover, WWTPs have a high potential for heat generation, together drodynamic energy that can be potentially exploited for several uses: the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Mainardis).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114214
Received 14 January 2021; Accepted 21 April 2021
Available online 6 May 2021
0196-8904/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 1. Energy consumption in a “standard” municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).

adapted from [15,16]

chemical energy is bounded in the organic molecules, and is generally renewable power, leading to negative effects such as green-house gases
expressed as chemical oxygen demand (COD) [9]. From this amount of (GHG) emission increase [19]. Recently, mathematical modelling has
available energy (estimated as 9.7 kWh/m3) [10], different high-value been applied to investigate and compare different end-use strategies for
products can be extracted, such as electricity, steam, biogas, hot water excess RES power (including energy storage, production of trans­
[9]. On the other hand, the energy needed for the whole wastewater portation fuel or vehicle charging, renewable gas production), with the
treatment chain is generally lower, and in most cases below 1 kWh/m3 aim of selecting the most effective and economic solution [19]. It was
[9]. He et al. [11] reported the electricity consumption of a relevant proved that a district having high renewable capacity can fulfil the
number of municipal WWTPs in China, with mean values of 0.25–0.33 100% RES conversion by exploiting synergism between different energy
kWh/m3. Gude [10], instead, reported a much wider range (0.5–2 kWh/ networks, with a fundamental role played by storage systems (such as
m3) in WWTP electricity consumption. Generally, the introduction of batteries) [20].
advanced tertiary processes, besides significantly improving effluent WWTPs can be selected, as well, to provide energy flexibility in a
quality, increases the overall energy consumption. Consistently, another 100% renewable energy grid, achieving a perfect match between supply
meaningful work reported a mean electricity consumption of 0.52 kWh/ and demand [17]. More specifically, renewable energy storage through
m3 in a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) in China [12]. Nonethe­ water electrolysis can lead to meaningful fluxes of hydrogen, that can be
less, in several countries the energy demand required by WWTPs is exploited to produce heat and electricity, and oxygen, that can partially
about 1% of the total electricity consumption [13], so WWTPs can be (or even totally) substitute compressed air injection into the biological
considered as intensive energy users. basins. Hydrogen is a suitable vector for storing renewable energy
Among the different processes that are applied for wastewater converted from wind farms or photovoltaic systems for medium periods
remediation, the biological treatment is known to be the most energy- (from a few days up to several months) [21]. On the other hand, oxygen
intensive section, due to the need of continuously supplying oxygen to injection to sustain the aerobic degradation of organic pollutants in
the reactors [14], with 10.2–71% of total plant electricity consumption secondary biological treatments represents one of the main operating
[1], depending on the specific plant scheme. A simplified energy balance costs in WWTPs, as recently recognized by several studies [14,22]. The
for a “standard” WWTP was reported in Fig. 1: the prevalence of energy renewable energy surplus can be used, as well, to improve final effluent
consumption for aeration (60%) arises, together with the significant characteristics by applying an advanced tertiary treatment (including
energy requirements for pumping (13%) and sludge treatment (15%) energy-intensive processes like ultrasound, ozonation or reverse
[7]. Innovative approaches in biological WWTPs involve the substitu­ osmosis) [23], in order to reclaim wastewater for agricultural irrigation
tion of conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment with advanced [24] or for industrial uses [25]. Among the different available technol­
solutions, e.g. anaerobic MBRs and integrated fixed-film activated ogies, reverse osmosis (RO) is a tertiary wastewater treatment process
sludge (IFAS)- sequencing batch reactor (SBR) processes, which allow an that allows to obtain excellent effluent quality characteristics for reuse,
enhanced energy harvest from biogas, a reduced sludge production and thanks to its optimum abatement of salinity, organic and inorganic
a lower electricity request [15], improving the WWTP energy balance. contaminants, coupled with an efficient barrier for pathogenic micro­
Recently, researchers applied the demand response concept to organisms [26].
WWTPs, to shift part of the energy consumption from peak to off-peak In this work, a thorough mathematical modelling approach was
periods, mainly through mathematical modelling approaches [1,14], employed to assess the feasibility of using the excess of renewable en­
e.g. by storing the air needed for the biological process or through the ergy from the electricity grid to reduce WWTP operating costs,
introduction of equalization tanks. The intrinsically variable renewable improving at the same time treated effluent quality. The main innova­
energy supply (particularly when considering PV power and wind tur­ tive aspect of the study was the development of a simulation and opti­
bines) asks for a significant flexibility in energy grids, and WWTPs have mization model able to couple renewable energy conversion with energy
been recently shown to be able to provide an elastic electricity genera­ storage, investigating the connection with the electricity grid and
tion and consumption [17]. Furthermore, it was proved that WWTPs are improving plant performances through the introduction of tertiary
capable of providing energy flexibility by applying load shifting, treatments. The model was applied to a selected medium-scale WWTP
without significantly affecting process performances [18]. (86,400 population equivalent), located in North-East of Italy, and
In a more general perspective, the mismatch between the variable successively extended to different scale plants to prove the robustness of
RES generation and the electric load can cause curtailment of excess the developed solutions. A hybrid energy system, composed of wind

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 2. Normalized wastewater inflow curve (adapted from Cottes et al. [14]).

Fig. 4. Specific electricity consumption of different scale wastewater treatment

plants [15,28].

2.1. Wastewater treatment plant input data

A medium-scale WWTP (86,400 population equivalent), located in

the coastal area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (Italy), was selected as a
meaningful case study. The plant was characterized by a strong seasonal
behaviour, due to a consistent touristic flux in the summer period. The
treatment line was composed of wastewater pre-treatment (screening,
oil, and sand removal) followed by primary sedimentation and sec­
ondary biological treatment; finally, the treated effluent was disinfected
and directed to the sea pipeline. The sludge line included an AD reactor
and a sludge desiccation unit through centrifuges. One-year hourly data
regarding the treated flowrate were considered to build the mean 24-h
Fig. 3. Monthly electricity consumption for the analysed wastewater treatment
plant (Italy) (45.6686◦ N, 13.1041◦ E). behaviour, that was shown to be consistent with typical municipal
WWTPs located in Italy [14], having a peak in the late morning (1 p.m.)
and a second peak in the afternoon (4 p.m.) (Fig. 2).
power and PV energy conversion, was considered, evaluating the actual
The mean plant specific electricity consumption (expressed as kWh/
availability of these RES in the selected location. The renewable energy
m3, Fig. 3) was calculated based on the real consumption data of one
excess was supposed to be stored in batteries, and an electrolyser was
typical year: from this graph, the remarkable augment in energy demand
introduced for oxygen and hydrogen production. The oxygen flux
in the summer period becomes evident. The energy expenses for aera­
generated by the electrolyser was used to sustain the aeration in the
tion in the secondary biological phase were calculated considering the
biological basins, considering the actual process need. RO was selected
installed compressor power and the treated flowrate: aeration accounted
as tertiary treatment technology to improve effluent characteristics,
for about 45% of the total plant electricity consumption, consistently
allowing to potentially reuse the treated water. If the RO unit is sup­
with previous research related to the same WWTP [14]. Consequently,
ported by PV, most of the production comes in the summer season, and
in the different operating conditions that were encountered throughout
consequently a surplus of high-quality water can be produced during
the year, the mean amount of oxygen needed for the biological basins
this period. Mostly, this season coincides with the maximum water usage
was estimated as 3.54 m3 O2/m3 wastewater. The electricity cost was
in agricultural irrigation and with the yearly peak in WWTP flowrate (in
directly given by the Italian authority for energy, gas, water, and waste
case of touristic WWTPs, such as the present case-study), showing an
(ARERA) [27].
advantageous seasonal match. The proposed modelling approach is
For generalization purposes, the developed model was subsequently
highly flexible and applicative, and can be tailored to selected plants
extended to different scale WWTPs, considering a decreasing trend in
having different potentiality and technical characteristics by simply
the mean electricity consumption as plant potentiality increased (Fig. 4),
modifying model’s input parameters and boundary conditions.
consistently with the most recent literature outcomes [15].
2. Methods
2.2. Modelling
Section 2.1 reports the main technical characteristics of the investi­
gated WWTP, while Section 2.2 describes the developed mathematical To achieve a 100% RES wastewater system, a hybrid energy network,
model of the energy conversion and storage technologies included in the composed of a solar photovoltaic unit and a wind generator for energy
investigated energy systems, as well as the RO unit. Section 2.3 illus­ conversion, was studied, while a li-ion battery, a hydrogen system
trates the adopted operational strategy, and finally Section 2.4 is focused (electrolyser and hydrogen tank) and a RO unit were considered as
on the applied optimization technique. storage systems (Fig. 5). The oxygen flux produced by the electrolyser
was used within the aeration system in the biological basins to reduce
the electricity consumption for biomass oxygenation. The heat produced
by the electrolyser and fuel cells was recovered for reutilization within
the WWTP (water and sludge lines). Typically, a high renewable

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 5. Proposed wastewater system layout. .

Adapted from [9,30]

to have an ideal MPPT tracker. The efficiency of the power conversion

Table 1
unit was assumed equal to the efficiency curve of the inverter Steca Grid
Technical characteristics of SunPower SPRX22-360 photovoltaic module.
3000 [33]. The solar radiation hitting the PV array was calculated using
Parameter Value the Perez1990 transposition model [34]. The solar cells temperature
Power peak (Wp) 360 referred to the model developed by Skoplaki et al. [35].
Panel efficiency (%) 22.2
Maximum power point voltage (V) 59.1
2.2.2. Wind turbine
Maximum power point current (A) 6.09
Open-circuit voltage (V) 69.5
The wind speed (v) at the hub height was calculated with the loga­
Short-circuit current (A) 6.48 rithmic wind law [36]:
Power temperature coefficient (%/◦ C) − 0.29 [ ( ) ]
Voltage temperature coefficient (mV/◦ C) − 167.4 v* z− d
v= ln +ψ (2)
Current temperature coefficient (mA/◦ C) 2.9 κ z0
Where, v* is the friction velocity (m/s), κ is the Von Karman constant
penetration energy system leads to significant electricity surpluses that (≈0.4), z is the hub height (m), d is the zero-plane displacement (m), z0
are not economically viable to store, and thus are dumped or curtailed. is the surface roughness (m), and ψ is a stability term. The hourly power
By adopting the concept of multi-vector energy system, it was decided to production from the wind turbine was calculated through interpolation
exploit the energy surpluses that were not economically viable by by using the power curve of Vestas V112-3.45 MW [37] as a reference.
introducing RO as tertiary wastewater treatment, improving in a sub­
stantial way treated effluent quality in view of its possible reuse. The 2.2.3. Battery model
meteorological data (global horizontal radiation, diffuse horizontal ra­ The implemented battery model referred to the Shepherd model
diation, ambient temperature, and wind speed at 10 m) for a typical [38,39]. In this study, it was assumed to have a thermal energy man­
meteorological year (TMY) in the selected location were retrieved from agement that prevented battery capacity fading.
Meteonorm® [29].
2.2.4. Hydrogen system
2.2.1. Photovoltaic system The hydrogen system was composed of an alkaline electrolyser, a
The PV unit was simulated by implementing the one-diode five pa­ compressor, a hydrogen tank and a proton-exchange membrane (PEM)
rameters model to simulate the current–voltage (I-V) characteristic fuel cell. The modelling of the electrolyser and fuel cell was accom­
curve of solar cells by using the following equation [31]: plished by using the efficiency curves (i.e., power input versus hydrogen
[ ( ) ] production for the electrolyser [40], and power required versus
V + IRs V + IRs
I = IL − I0 exp − 1 − (1) hydrogen consumption for the fuel cell [41]). The power consumption of
a Rsh
the compressor, Wc (W), was calculated using the following equation
[42]:
Where, I (A) is the operating current, IL is the light generated current (A),
I0 is the diode reverse saturation current (A), RS is the series resistance T1
(( )r−r 1
P2
)
(Ω), a is the modified ideality factor, Rsh is the shunt resistance (Ω). The Wc = c p − 1 mH2 ,el (3)
ηc P1
PV module selected as reference was SunPower SPRX22-360 [32],
whose technical characteristics were summarized in Table 1. Concerning Where, cp is the specific heat of hydrogen (kJ/(kg K)), T1 is the inlet
the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm, it was supposed hydrogen temperature (K), ηc is the compressor efficiency (%), P1 and P2

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

are the inlet and output pressures (bar), r is the isentropic exponent of Table 2
hydrogen (1.4), and mH2,el is the compressed hydrogen mass (kg). The Lower and upper bounds of the decisional variables for the optimization prob­
hydrogen tank model performed the hydrogen mass balance at each time lem in the generalization scenario.
step. Parameter Lower bound Upper bound

Tilt angle (◦ ) 0 90
2.2.5. Reverse osmosis Azimuth angle (◦ ) − 45 45
If the renewable power surplus could not be stored into the hydrogen PV system capacity (MWp) 0 3
system because the latter was at its full capacity, the extra power was Wind turbine capacity (MWr) 0 2
Wind turbine tower height (m) 0 100
supposed to be converted into freshwater through a tertiary wastewater
Battery capacity (MWh) 0 20
treatment, composed of a RO unit. The power requirement of the RO Electrolyser capacity (MW) 0 5
system, PRO (W), was modelled by assuming an energy recovery system Hydrogen storage tank (MWh) 0 20
for the high-pressure brine according to the following equation [43]: Fuel cell capacity (MW) 0 2

p f Qf
PRO = b − bpb Qb ηt (4)
ηp with element type SW30ULE-400i (37.2 m2 active area per element,
operating pressure of 55.2 bar, flow of 41.6 m3/day), recovery rate of
Where, b is a conversion factor, pf is the RO membrane feed pressure 50%, and TDS concentration in the feed equal to 20.6 ppm (mean data
(bar), Qf is the feed flowrate (m3/h), ηp is the pump efficiency (%), pb is from the selected WWTP).
the brine exit pressure (bar), Qb is the brine flowrate (m3/h), and ηt is
turbine efficiency (%). The permeate flowrate Qp (m3/h), given by the
difference from feed flowrate and brine flowrate, was calculated with 2.3. Operational strategy
the following equation [44–46]:
The battery was charged when the PV and the wind power produc­
Qp = kp Am TCF(Δp − Δπ ) (5) tion was higher than WWTP consumption. If the difference between the
sum of PV and wind power production and the electricity consumption
Where, kp is the membrane permeability coefficient (m/bar-h) that de­ in the WWTP was higher than the battery power, the power surplus was
pends on the membrane permeability and fouling factor, Am is the used for charging the hydrogen system. If the battery was fully charged
membrane surface effective area (m2), TCF is the temperature correction and there was a surplus of power, then the hydrogen system was
factor, Δp is the average pressure differential across the membrane charged. If both the battery and the hydrogen tank were fully charged,
(bar), and Δπ is the average difference in osmotic pressure across the the power surplus was injected into the grid. The battery was discharged
membrane (bar). TCF was given by the following relationship [47]: when WWTP power consumption was higher than the power produc­
⎧ ( ( )) tion. Similar to the discharge process, if the required power was higher
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2640 2981 − 1 than the maximum dischargeable power, the hydrogen system
⎪
⎨e 273+T
, T ≥ 25
TCF = ( ( )) (6)
⎪
⎪
⎪ Table 3
⎪ 1 − 1
Main economic parameters used in the model optimization.
⎩ 3020 298 273+T
e , T < 25
Parameter Value
Where T is the temperature (◦ C). The average pressure differential and PV system capital cost (US$/kWp) 995 [49]
the average difference in the osmotic pressure across the membrane Wind generator capital cost (US 1,473 [49]
were calculated as follows [46,48]: $/kWr)
Battery capital cost (US$/kWh) 466 [50]
pf + pb Electrolyser capital cost (US$/kW) 500 [51]
Δp = − pp (7)
2 Compressor capital cost (US$/kW) 100 [52]
Hydrogen tank capital cost (US 14 (Adapted from [53] (438 US$/kg)
πf + πb $/kWh) considering that 1 kg of hydrogen contains
Δπ = − πp (8) 33.33 kWh)
2
Fuel cell capital cost (US$/kW) 2,500 [54]
0.002654C(T + 273) Reverse osmosis capital cost (US 2.23 [55]
π= C
(9) $/m3/year)
1000 − 1000 PV system operational cost (US 10 [49]
$/kW/year)
Where pf is the RO feed water pressure (bar), pp is the RO permeate Wind generator operational cost 40 [49]
pressure (bar), πf is the osmotic pressure of RO feed water (bar), π b is the (US$/kW/year)
Battery operational cost (US$/kWh) 8 [50]
osmotic pressure of RO brine (bar), πp is the osmotic pressure of RO
Electrolyser operational cost (% of 2 [51]
permeate (bar), C is Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentration (ppm). A the investment cost/year)
mass balance equation was subsequently written, considering feed, Compressor operational cost (% of 4 [56]
brine, and permeate flowrates (respectively Qf, Qb, Qp (m3/h)), and the investment cost/year)
Hydrogen tank operational cost (US 0 [53]
concentrations (respectively Cf, Cb, Cp (ppm)):
$/year)
Qf Cf = Qb Cb + Qp Cp (10) Fuel cell operational cost (US 0.04 [54]
$/kWh)
The adopted design parameter was the recovery ratio, defined as Reverse osmosis operational cost (% 4 [55]
of the investment cost/year)
follows:
PV system lifetime (year) 25 [57]
Qp Wind generator lifetime (year) 25 [57]
R= (11) Battery lifetime (year) 20 [58]
Qf
Electrolyser lifetime (year) 15 [53]
The recovery ratio represented the objective function of the opti­ Compressor lifetime (year) 20 [52]
Hydrogen tank lifetime (year) 25 [53]
mization problem by varying the number of elements and the feed
Fuel cell lifetime (year) 15 [54]
pressure. The following further assumptions were made: single stage RO Reverse osmosis lifetime (year) >25 [55]

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 6. Simulation results (the simulated system was composed of a 1.6 MWp PV system, 800 kWr wind turbine with 80 m tower, 2.4 MWh battery, 2.4 MW
electrolyser, 24 MWh hydrogen tank, and 800 kW fuel cell).

supported the battery system. If the battery was fully discharged, the 3. Results
hydrogen system supplied the electric load. If both the battery and
hydrogen system were discharged, the electric load was met by Section 3.1 describes simulation results, while Section 3.2 is focused
importing electric power from the grid. In the case the RO unit was in­ on the outcomes of the optimization model.
tegrated into the energy system, the power surplus to be injected into the
grid was transformed into an effluent having a superior water quality by 3.1. Simulation results
the tertiary wastewater treatment.
A summary of the simulation results regarding the investigated en­
2.4. Optimization ergy system was provided in Fig. 6, in terms of PV and wind power
production and electricity consumption profiles (top), battery and
The optimization model was set to pursue two main objectives: hydrogen tank state of charge (SOC) (middle), and electricity surplus
maximizing the RES self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) (%) (intended as the and deficit (down). The simulation outcomes in Fig. 6 were referred to a
number of hours in which the electric load was met by the renewables non-optimized system composed of 1.6 MWp PV system (800 kW was the
plus the storage systems over the total number of operating hours per annual electricity consumption peak that typically occurred during the
year) and minimizing the system net present cost (NPC) (US$). The NPC summer months), 800 kWp wind turbine, 2.4 MWh battery (it was
was calculated by using the following equation: assumed to use the battery as a short term energy storage solution with a
∑
n storage capacity equal to 1 h of PV system and wind turbine operation at
CFy
NPC = ICC + , (12) maximum capacity), 2.4 MW electrolyser (i.e., sum of the power ca­
(1 + d)y
y=1 pacities of the PV system and wind turbine), 24 MWh hydrogen tank (i.
Where, ICC is the initial investment cost (US$), CFy is the cost flow in e., 10 h of PV system and wind turbine full capacity), and 800 kW fuel
the yth year (US$), and d is the discount rate (%). In this study, all the cell. The simulated system showed a SSR of 94%; nevertheless, as could
economic data were referred to US Dollars (US$). The developed opti­ be seen from the figure, there was a substantial electricity surplus to be
mization model found the optimal capacities of the systems’ components injected into the grid (1.25 GWh-el/year).
to reach the above-mentioned objectives. The components’ capacities (i. The oxygen produced during the electrolysis was used in the aeration
e., PV system power peak, wind generator rated power, battery and process to lower the electricity consumption of this key component of
hydrogen tank capacities, electrolyser and fuel cell rated power) were the wastewater treatment chain. The annual oxygen volumeproduced in
the decisional variables of the optimization problem. The lower and the electrolyser was 200,000 Nm3. The resulting electricity reduction
upper bounds of the decisional variables for the optimization problem from feeding the WWTP aeration step with the produced oxygen was 6.9
were summarized in Table 2. The main economic parameters considered MWhel/year. The thermal energy recovered by the electrolyser and fuel
in the optimization process were instead reported in Table 3. cell was 673 MWhth/year.
The substantial electricity surplus resulting from Fig. 6 could be used
for supporting further system integration and plant improvement, for
instance by connecting a RO unit at the end of the WWTP treatment

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 8. Optimal PV and wind turbine capacities selected during the optimiza­
tion process (the projections of those points in the x-y plane form the Pareto
Fig. 7. Pareto front of the optimal solutions. front of Fig. 7).

chain. Based on the assumptions in Section 2.2.5, the specific electricity

consumption of the RO unit was calculated as 0.512 kWh/m3 of pro­
duced water. This value referred to a unit that abated the TDS concen­
tration from 20.6 ppm to 1 ppm. A similar consumption value, equal to
0.451 kWh/m3, was reported by Liu et al. [59]. A validation in terms of
specific electricity consumption (kWh/m3) between the model pre­
sented in Section 2.2.5 and the commercial software WAVE® was pro­
vided in the Appendix.

3.2. Optimization results

Sub-section 3.2.1 reports the results of the case study optimization;

Sub-section 3.2.2 is aimed at generalizing the obtained outcomes in
order to highlight the applicability of the developed model to other
relevant case-studies.

3.2.1. Case study

The Pareto front of the optimal solutions for the selected WWTP was
depicted in Fig. 7. As can be seen, the curve was divided in two distinct
parts, because the entire Pareto frontier was obtained through two Fig. 9. Optimal battery and hydrogen tank capacities selected during the
separate optimizations. In the first optimization, the objective functions optimization process (the projections of those points in the x-y plane form the
were NPC minimization and SSR maximization (as described in Section Pareto front of Fig. 7).
2.4), while in the second step the objective functions were NPC mini­
mization and SSR minimization. This was performed because the Pareto related investment and operational costs significantly affected the NPC.
front showed a knee in correspondence of a SSR of 80%. The NPC This aspect was evident at SSR between 70% and 90%, where the Pareto
decreased by increasing the renewable penetration from 10% until front showed a significantly higher NPC at equal SSR as compared to the
70–80%, while, on the other hand, the NPC augmented exponentially by system without RO unit. Moreover, the system with RO unit showed
further increasing the renewable penetration (from 80% up to 100%). remarkable differences with the system without RO unit in proximity of
By performing the reference optimization (as described in Section 2.4), 100% SSR, where the NPC for the system with RO unit was more than 40
only the upper part of the Pareto front was obtained. This outcome was MUS$, higher than the system without RO unit. Besides representing the
related to the theory of double objective optimization and non­ optimal solutions, the corresponding values of the decisional variables
dominated solutions (a solution among the feasible solutions is called in terms of PV and wind power capacities, battery and hydrogen tank
nondominated if none of the objective functions can be improved in capacities, and the dimensions of the hydrogen system components were
their value without degrading some of the other objective values [60]). presented in Figs. 8-10.
Indeed, those solutions were dominant when compared to the solutions The optimal capacities of the PV system and wind turbine were
that formed the lower part of the Pareto front (part 1), also explaining depicted in Fig. 8 in form of a 3D scatter plot. The projections of those
the gap between parts 1 and 2 of the Pareto fronts. Fig. 7 shows the points in the x-y plane formed the Pareto front of Fig. 7. As can be seen
Pareto front for both systems (with and without RO unit). The RO unit from Fig. 8, PV system was the technology that drove the optimization
had a negligible effect on the NPC for low SSR values (i.e., SSR below from low to high renewable penetration scenarios. The wind turbine
50%), since the surplus electricity was null or extremely low. For high instead played a key role only at high renewable penetrations, because
renewable penetrations (i.e., SSR higher than 50%), the electricity sur­ its investment and operational costs were significantly higher than those
plus became relevant and, accordingly, the size of the RO unit and the

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projections of fuel cell costs. The results were depicted in Fig. 11, and
referred to a fuel cell marked out by an investment cost of 1,500 US
$/kW, an operational cost of 0.25 US$/kWh and a lifetime of 25 years
[54]. By using the most optimistic scenario for the fuel cell, the selection
process with fuel cell was improved until capacities up to 700 kW. In
addition, the selection process started to choose high fuel cell capacities,
in the order of 150 kW upwards, beginning from SSR of 70%.
A further detail of the optimization process was represented by the
selection of the optimal tilt and azimuth angles of the PV unit. The
relationship between optimal tilt and azimuth angles and SSR was
depicted in Fig. 12. High SSR values were only achieved at high tilt
angles. This could be explained by analysing Fig. 3, which showed that
WWTP electricity consumption was higher during the summer months
(due to the touristic fluxes). Thus, the optimization algorithm selected
those tilt angles that led to a higher electricity production during sum­
mer months. Concerning the azimuth angle, most of the optimal values
at high SSR were negatives (i.e., optimal PV array orientation towards
east). This can be explained by a further analysis of Fig. 2: a significant
ramp-up of the wastewater flowrate was observed from 9 a.m. until 1 p.
Fig. 10. Electrolyser, hydrogen tank and fuel cell capacities selected during the m., and consequently the optimal tilt angles towards east led to a higher
optimization process (the projections of those points in the x-y plane form the PV production during this period of the day.
Pareto front of Fig. 7).
3.2.2. Generalization
The generalization of the developed model was carried out by using
the weather conditions corresponding to three different climates (i.e.,
Stockholm, Rome, and Johannesburg). Moreover, a further scenario
considering different WWTP sizes (i.e., influent flowrate of 100 m3/day,
1,000 m3/day, 10,000 m3/day, and 100,000 m3/day) was analysed for
Rome. The specific WWTPs electricity consumption was calculated by
using the relationship provided by Gu et al. [15]. While performing the
model generalization, the optimization problem was modified in terms
of lower and upper bounds as reported in Table 4.
The Pareto fronts for the optimization carried out for Johannesburg,
Rome and Stockholm for a WWTP treating 100,000 m3/day were pro­
vided in Fig. 13. The figure referred to a WWTP without a RO unit.
200 MUS$ was the NPC of the system without any renewable and
storage technology integration (i.e., it represented the life cycle cost of
the electricity paid by the WWTP managing company by assuming an
electricity price of 0.18 US$/kWh [27]). The highest renewable pene­
trations were achieved with NPC in the order of 20%, 65% and 60%
higher than the case without renewable and storage systems for
Johannesburg, Rome, and Stockholm respectively. By assuming the
lower and upper bounds of Table 4, only Johannesburg could achieve a
Fig. 11. Electrolyser, hydrogen tank and fuel cell capacities selected during the 100% renewable-based wastewater treatment system, whereas Rome
optimization process using the best cost scenario for fuel cell lifetime, invest­
and Stockholm could reach maximum values respectively of 97% and
ment costs and operational costs.
95%, due to the lower solar energy availability for Rome and Stockholm.
The lowest NPC was achieved with SSR values in the range of 70% for
of the PV unit (see Table 3). Nevertheless, at high renewable penetra­ both cases, consistently with the results obtained on the selected WWTP
tion, the energy storage technologies became necessary and started to be (Fig. 7). For high SSR values, more consistent capacities of the storage
selected (Fig. 9). In this selection process, the wind turbine started to be technologies were required, leading to an exponential increase of the
chosen because the integration of wind turbine, due to its complemen­ NPC due to the current market prices. The details of the optimal ca­
tarity with solar PV production, reduced the capacity of the storage pacities of the system components selected during the optimization
technologies that required a much higher investment cost. process were summarized in Fig. 14.
Due to the current high costs of the hydrogen storage system (elec­ Similar to the selected WWTP scenario, solar PV was the first
trolyser + hydrogen tank + fuel cell) as compared to the battery renewable technology being selected by the optimization algorithm, due
(Table 3), the optimization model selected primarily the battery system to the lower investment and operational costs when compared to wind
as preferred energy storage technology (Fig. 9). The details of the se­ turbines. Nevertheless, except for Johannesburg (marked out by an
lection process for the capacities of the hydrogen storage system com­ extremely high solar energy potential), high renewable penetrations
ponents were depicted in Fig. 10. As can be seen, the fuel cell could only be achieved by combining solar PV and wind turbines,
represented the bottleneck of the subsystem. Fuel cell capacity never exploiting solar and wind temporal complementarity [61]. Differently
went beyond 300 kW, despite the electricity consumption peaked up to from the analysed WWTP, marked out by a strong seasonality (see Fig. 3)
800 kW, and considering the fact that the fuel cell should work as back- that coincided with the PV production, the electricity consumption for
up power. This result was related to the techno-economic nature of the the WWTPs of Johannesburg, Rome, and Stockholm was assumed to
optimization model, and was in accordance with the extremely high have a flatter load (see Section 2.1). This affected the selection of the
investments costs of the fuel cell (Table 3). Motivated by this fact, a optimum storage system. Due to the match between PV power supply
further sub-scenario was investigated, considering future optimistic and electricity consumption, the most favourable electricity storage

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 12. Relationship between optimal tilt and azimuth angles and self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) of the photovoltaic (PV) unit.

water (LCOW) and SSR. The levelized cost of water is defined as the ratio
Table 4 between the NPC and the sum of the discounted water treated by the
Lower and upper bounds of the decisional variables for the optimization prob­
WWTP during its lifetime, and allows to compare technologies with
lem in the generalization scenario.
different operational scales [62]. As can be seen, low capacity WWTPs
Parameter Lower bound Upper bound were marked out by high LCOW values. Nevertheless, except for the
Tilt angle (◦ ) 0 90 WWTP characterized by a treated water flowrate of 100 m3/day, the
Azimuth angle (◦ ) − 45 45 LCOW did not substantially increase. In the case of the WWTP treating
PV system capacity (MWp) 0 5 100 m3/day, the LCOW varied from 17 US$/m3 up to 23 US$/m3, while
Wind turbine capacity (MWr) 0 5
Wind turbine tower height (m) 0 100
for the 1,000 m3/day and for the 100,000 m3/day WWTPs, the LCOW
Battery capacity (MWh) 0 20 was in the range of 9.5–11.5 US$/m3, and 2.5–4.5 US$/m3, respectively.
Electrolyser capacity (MW) 0 20 For larger scale WWTPs, the LCOW did not substantially increase when
Hydrogen storage tank (MWh) 0 20 compared to the reference case (i.e., electricity consumption covered
Fuel cell capacity (MW) 0 5
through the electric grid and electricity price of 0.18 US$/kWh).

4. Discussion

Section 4.1 analyses RES integration in WWTPs, discussing the future

perspectives in the field by analysing relevant literature studies. Section
4.2 deals with the improvement of the treated effluent quality for its
recovery, while Section 4.3 discusses model generalization and reports
some final remarks.

4.1. Renewable energy utilization and optimization in wastewater

treatment plants

As previously mentioned, about 45% of the overall electricity con­

sumption in the selected WWTP was due to aeration, considering the
relevant oxygen fluxes that needed to be injected into the biological
basins to sustain aerobic pollutant degradation. The total WWTP elec­
tricity consumption was calculated as 0.27 kWh/m3 of wastewater, and
was coherent with other literature studies [9,11]. Waste heat recovery
was not considered in this study, since it was decided to focus only on
electricity and hydrogen as energy vectors. However, the waste heat
could be used to supply thermal energy for buildings within the WWTP
or exported/traded through a district heating and cooling system
Fig. 13. Pareto fronts for Johannesburg, Rome and Stockholm for a wastewater network [14]. Recent literature studies [63] proposed in addition heat
treatment plant of 100,000 m3/day without reverse osmosis. recovery from biological wastewater effluents: by investigating a full-
scale sequencing batch biofilter granular reactor (SBBGR), the installa­
system was the battery for short-term storage (Fig. 9). Nevertheless, for tion of a water source heat pump was proposed, including a PV unit to
Johannesburg, Rome and Stockholm, due to the reduced match between power the heat compressor engine and energy storage through two
supply and demand, the selection of the hydrogen storage played a phase change material tanks. It was shown that the recovered thermal
significant role as a long-term storage solution. energy strongly depended on the environmental temperature; however,
The results of the scenario considering different WWTP sizes were it was possible to produce up to 14.5 kWh of thermal energy without
summarized in Fig. 15 in terms of relationship between levelized cost of affecting process performances [63]. Elsewhere, combined heating and
cooling systems were proposed to satisfy electrical, heating and cooling

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

Fig. 14. Optimization results for Johannesburg (a-c), Rome (e-g) and Stockholm (h-j) for a 100,000 m3/day wastewater plant.

WWTP demands, analysing the technical and economic profitability of in a direct way the overall WWTP energy performances, better identi­
the newly suggested devices under various operating parameters [64]. fying the margins for energy saving and optimization [13] and allowing,
In literature, mathematical modelling was used to prove the feasi­ in addition, an easier benchmarking.
bility of obtaining a 100% renewable energy grid, using WWTPs as en­ Energy neutrality in WWTPs can be achieved by means of different
ergy flexibility providers [17]. From the electric grid perspective, in fact, strategies, including an optimization of the energy consumption in water
the RO unit, as well as the battery and the hydrogen tank (and by and sludge lines, an augment of energy recovery from internal sources,
considering a macro level, the entire wastewater system) [14], represent the use of additional external RES [9]. Remarkable energy-positive case-
key technologies able to provide remunerable flexibility services to the studies were proposed in the scientific literature. Energy recovery from
grid itself, while producing useful by-products (water for different reuse excess sludge AD, as an example, could be increased by co-digesting
purposes). In this framework, Ali et al. [17] showed that using WWTPs other locally available biodegradable organic waste (such as dairy
for load and generation shift could moderately reduce the size of a 100% waste or organic fraction of municipal solid waste), contributing to the
renewable electricity grid in Australia (from 152.2 GW, without flexi­ circular economy and sustainability perspectives sustained by European
bility, down to 148.6 GW with flexibility). Differently from the present Union (EU) [66]. Energy recovery from WWTPs can reduce the oper­
outcomes, where PV generation was preponderant, wind power ating costs and thus lower process’ environmental impact, providing
accounted for 39% of the total electric power, while concentrated solar electricity and heat needed for the various plant operations [65]. The
thermal power and PV power supplied respectively 29% and 21% of the long-term goal of WWTPs is to move towards water and energy recovery
electricity generation. On the other hand, electricity from sewage sludge facilities (WERFs) by achieving an energy-neutral (or even an energy-
AD provided only 1% of the total load [17]. positive) status [67]. Considering this framework, the proposed
Beside RES implementation, energy audits can be a useful tool to approach can boost this transition, exploiting in a virtuous way the
improve WWTP energy efficiency, upgrading the process treatment locally available RES, improving at the same time treated effluent
scheme or optimizing the existing treatment units [65]. The aggregation quality through tertiary treatment.
of common key performance indicators (KPIs), referred to treated
flowrate, COD or other process parameters, in a global index can convey

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P.E. Campana et al. Energy Conversion and Management 239 (2021) 114214

cost of electricity; nevertheless, higher investment costs were reported

for RES and storage technologies if compared to the current study.
It was previously shown (Fig. 15) that in large scale WWTPs high
renewable penetrations did not significantly affect the LCOW value; this
outcome could be an important signal for WWTP operators to boost an
enhanced renewable energy generation in the sector, particularly tar­
geted at centralized plants, where a dedicated process and energy con­
sumption optimization can be feasible [14]. Future studies in the field
could include the evaluation of the environmental impacts of the pro­
posed technical solutions through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) [74],
together with investigation of alternative technologies to CAS (such as
granular activated sludge [75] or microalgae [76]) to recover nutrients
from wastewater. The present study can help the entire wastewater
treatment sector to move towards a smarter, energy-efficient and inno­
vative platform, able to provide energy, nutrients and clean water for
different high-value purposes, exploiting the interconnection with
existing energy grids and improving traditional treatment schemes.

5. Conclusions

This study investigated the possibility to reach high renewable

Fig. 15. Relationship between levelized cost of water treated (LCOW) for penetration scenarios (up to 100%) in wastewater treatment plants
different sizes of wastewater treatment plants in Rome. through a dynamic simulation and optimization approach. The main
findings of the study can be summarized as follows:
4.2. Effluent quality improvement and water reclamation
• The highest renewable wastewater system could be achieved at a net
The electricity surplus used for the RO tertiary treatment could yield present cost that was 20%-65% higher than the reference value,
a meaningful superior effluent quality production (up to 200,000 m3/ mostly depending on the available solar energy resources.
year in the case of the analysed WWTP). The produced water could be • For all the investigated scenarios and cases, it could be recommended
reused (and even sold) for different purposes, such as drinking water, to design renewable and storage systems marked out by a self-
livestock watering, industrial applications, and agricultural irrigation. It sufficiency ratio of 70%, as this value corresponded to the lowest
is beyond the scope of this study to discuss the aspects influencing water net present cost.
reuse regulations as analysed by Salgot and Folch [68]; however, the • The levelized cost of treated water for high capacity (i.e., greater
specific thresholds in pollutant concentrations should be properly than 1,000 m3/day) wastewater treatment plants did not substan­
accounted when dealing with wastewater reuse schemes, and conse­ tially increase for high renewable penetration scenarios (i.e., greater
quently a continuous effluent monitoring is fundamental. Moreover, the than 90%) when compared to the reference case (i.e., electricity
specific electricity consumption of the tertiary RO unit could be reduced, demand covered by the electric grid).
if lower water qualities would be required. Finally, the presence of
subsidies promoting higher effluent standards could further justify RO This study analysed only the costs associated with the installation
unit integration in the analysed WWTP [69]. and operation of high renewable penetration wastewater treatment
WWTPs are supposed to treat the inflow streams with efficient pro­ plants. Nevertheless, high renewable based wastewater systems have the
cesses, leading to treated effluents that respect the quality requirements opportunity to provide several benefits in terms of flexibility services to
related to the pollutant concentration limits. However, the effluent electric and district heating networks, as well as to produce several co-
concentration thresholds for the recovered wastewater remarkably vary benefits (i.e., heat production from the hydrogen system components
across different countries [70]. In few European countries, economic and improved wastewater effluent quality for reutilization in different
incentives were introduced during the last decade to promote a better applications) that can be easily monetized. Thus, future studies on the
effluent quality and water reclamation practices. Above all, Belgium and topic will be aimed at deepening not only the cost analysis, but also the
Denmark excel for their policies and initiatives on wastewater recovery economic profitability.
and reuse: to promote an improved effluent quality, the plant managing
companies are forced to pay a fee for each kg of organic matter and CRediT authorship contribution statement
nutrients released into the environment [71]. These incentives could
encourage the WWTP managers to achieve a better effluent quality. Pietro Elia Campana: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
More generally, the presence of ad-hoc incentives, policies and pre­ Validation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft,
scriptions for treated water reclamation, able to reach a compromise Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Matia Mainardis: Concep­
between treated water quality, energy consumption and economic tualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - orig­
impact, can boost this virtuous practice, by considering an integrated inal draft, Writing - review & editing. Alessandro Moretti:
framework able to address environmental, financial and regulatory gaps Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation. Mattia Cottes:
[72]. Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation.

Declaration of Competing Interest

4.3. Model generalization and final remarks
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
The results reported for the model generalization (Section 3.2.2) interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
were somehow in agreement with what claimed by Campana et al. [73] the work reported in this paper.
that studied high renewable penetration in shrimp farms in Thailand. In
that study, renewable penetrations up to 40% led to the lowest levelized

11
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