Title: Exergoeconomic assessment of a municipal primary and secondary sewage treatment

Authors: Aysegul Abusoglu; Sinan Demir; Mehmet Kanoglu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Gaziantep, 27310 Gaziantep, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Gaziantep, 27310 Gaziantep, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Gaziantep, 27310 Gaziantep, Turkey

Abstract: This paper presents the exergoeconomic analysis and assessment of a municipal primary and secondary sewage treatment systems. Operation of an existing municipal sewage treatment plant is described in detail and an exergoeconomic methodology based on SPECO method is provided to allocate cost flows through subcomponents of the plant. The system treats nearly 222,000m³ domestic wastewater per day by using the primary and secondary treatment systems. The exergetic efficiencies of the primary and secondary sewage treatment systems are determined to be 53.4% and 14.8%, respectively. The exergetic cost rate and the specific unit exergetic cost of the treated wastewater at the exit of the WWTP are found to be 62.05 $/h and 3.804 ¢/m³, respectively.

Keywords: sewage treatment plants; energy efficiency; exergy efficiency; exergoeconomy; SPECO; exergoeconomic assessment; municipal sewage treatment; cost flows; domestic wastewater; wastewater treatment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2012.050230

International Journal of Exergy, 2012 Vol.11 No.3, pp.387 - 405

Received: 05 Mar 2012
Accepted: 25 Apr 2012
Published online: 08 Nov 2012 *

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