International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

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Volume 14 Number 6 (Dec. 2023)

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IJESD 2023 Vol.14(6): 373-380
doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2023.14.6.1457

Environmental Performance Assessment of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System in Jordan Using Life Cycle Analysis

Hiba Nofal and Ramia Al-Ajarmeh*
Manuscript received January 15, 2023; revised March 29, 2023; accepted August 11, 2023.
Abstract—This research utilized Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) within SimaPro 9 software to evaluate the potential environmental burdens: global warming, eutrophication, acidification, and ozone layer depletion of three Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems (DWWTS) in Jordan over the entire period of its life cycle of construction and operation phases. The obtained laboratory test results showed that Feynan (M1) has the best performance regarding treatment efficiency, where the treated effluent parameters TN, TP, COD, and BOD were the lowest compared to Jerash (M2) and SMART (M3). On the other hand, the overall outcomes show that M3 and M2 are approximately 25% and 50%, respectively, compared to M1 contribution in burdens. Construction of wetlands has the highest contribution to most of the environmental burdens of the three plants. It was found that cement production is the key factor causing environmental burdens resulting from the construction of these plants. Whereas concrete blocks, reinforcing steel, and PVC pipes have less contribution. LCA is approved as a supportive investigation of the environmental burdens of such plants that guide decision-makers in developing new strategies to achieve sustainability.

Index Terms—Terms—Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems (DWWTS), Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Jordan, SimaPro

The authors are with Civil Engineering Department, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Queen Rania St., Amman, Jordan.
*Correspondence: r.ajarmeh@ju.edu.jo (R.A.A.)

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Cite: Hiba Nofal and Ramia Al-Ajarmeh*, "Environmental Performance Assessment of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System in Jordan Using Life Cycle Analysis," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 373-380, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).