A Study on an Environmental-Load Reduction Plan for a Purification Plant Using Life-Cycle Assessment

In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) that quantitatively calculates environmental loads, is performed for a water treatment plant (purification plant), and a method for reducing environmental loads for the plant is proposed. The environmental loading substances according to the six impact categories of the environmental declaration of products (EDP) are quantitatively calculated. The results indicated that 98.9% of all environmental loading substances are generated in the global warming impact category. CO2 accounts for 97.2% of the total emissions, and with regards to each stage of the entire life-cycle, 99.9% of environmental loads occurs in the construction stage, while 0.1% occurs in the operation, deconstruction, and recycling stages. The results from the purification facility are compared with those obtained from a wastewater reuse facility to examine any similarities and differences. Moreover, four scenarios are proposed as methods for reducing environmental loads, in order to verify the reduction of environmental loads at the purification plant. Furthermore, reduction effects are confirmed by applying the developed reduction method to a practical case, and conducting an LCA analysis.