Environmental sustainability is on the horizon as one of the most important factors when it comes to many businesses. The rising interest and emphasis on this has pushed many industries to follow more strict sustainability measures to cut their own impact and pave the way for a cleaner and greener future. Wastewater treatment has the potential to be sustainable, and it plays a huge role in protecting water resources across the world, but we’re going to dive into whether or not the equipment used for wastewater treatment is truly sustainable. Let’s look more into this and see what exactly is sustainable if you’re a company that’s looking to be as sustainable as possible, including in your wastewater treatment efforts.
What is Sustainability in Wastewater Treatment?
Sustainability looks different across industries due to the capabilities of being sustainable and what exactly that entails. In this case, there are multiple avenues that contribute to making wastewater treatment sustainable, and understanding these can help you determine what’s truly sustainable and whether it’s the right choice for you. Here are some of the key aspects that are a part of sustainable wastewater treatment:
Energy Efficiency: This is one of the main areas where sustainability comes into play. Reducing the energy consumption of treatment processes can be done through design, energy recovery from wastewater, and energy from biogas. Wastewater treatment equipment can consume a significant amount of energy, so implementing energy-saving practices can have a substantial impact.
Minimizing Pollution: Pollution is a factor that we see talked about in the industrial area, but water treatment helps to reduce pollutants that are in the water, such as chemicals, pathogens, and excess unneeded nutrients.
Resources: When it comes to resources, wastewater treatment plays a huge role in being able to reuse water that otherwise would have to be discarded. This also helps to create a circular economy where the wastewater is treated and reused to maximize resource utilization.
Eco-Friendly Technologies and Innovations
There are many different technologies these days that help with sustainability, energy efficiency, and innovation when it comes to wastewater treatment. Here are a few of the top technologies that can be used in wastewater treatment to help build a greener and more sustainable life.
Biogas Recovery with Anaerobic Treatment
Biogas is a renewable fuel that is composed mostly of methane that can be used to power heating and electricity, cutting energy usage from the grid. Anaerobic processes can also cut cluge production by about 50%, which means that the disposal cost and environmental burden of that can be cut as well.
Efficient Aeration Systems
Aeration is an important part of wastewater treatment; however, it can account for over 50% of a plant’s total energy consumption, meaning that there’s a huge opportunity for sustainability efforts here. Equipment like fine-bubble diffusers can help to lower blower run-times, or high-efficiency blowers can adjust airflow based on needs. These equipment changes can help to cut energy consumption and lower operational costs at the same time.
Membrane Bioreactors
Membrane bioreactors, or MBRs, help to produce clean effluent using a combination of biological treatment and membrane filtration. It has a lower chemical use and helps to produce high-quality reuse water suitable for industrial reuse, irrigation, or potable reuse.
Smart Monitoring
Smart monitoring is something that we are seeing more of as technology advances and wastewater treatments take on these advancements. IoT sensors help to monitor compliance while detecting issues in real-time. RT Process control allows for automated adjustments to be made to keep energy use at a minimum. Lastly, predictive maintenance forecasts equipment needs to prevent breakdowns and lower downtime.
What Lakeside Equipment Offers for Sustainability
At Lakeside Equipment, we have a full lineup of products that can help with wastewater treatment efficiency, and many of them are sustainable. When it comes to our products, we want them to be efficient for you, but also allow you to keep up with your sustainability plan and help contribute to a greener future. We offer a wide range of products, from aerators, special drums, biogas recovery setups, and automation features that can help you in your sustainability efforts. With a wide range of offers, we are able to give you a solution that allows you to cut energy consumption, improve efficiency, and bring on smart monitoring technologies to make manpower less needed.
Benefits of Sustainable Wastewater Treatment
There are many benefits that come with sustainable wastewater treatment and they’re mostly broken up into three categories including environmental, social, and economic. These benefits are similar to other benefits that come with sustainability efforts in other areas as well, but here’s a look at the benefits that come with having sustainable wastewater treatment.
Environmental Benefits
- Reduced energy footprint from the treatment
- Lower carbon emissions are emitted by the wastewater treatment
- Improved water quality due to increased efforts
- Less impact on energy consumption on the grid
Social Benefits
- Healthier communities are built when water treatment is effective and nonpolluting
- Enhanced reliability in the practices of the treatment facility
- Sustainability efforts of wastewater treatment facilities offer a good social reputation in the sustainability sector
Economic Benefits
- Lower energy consumption, meaning lower operational costs
- Biogas creation, meaning less reliance on the energy grid power
Be More Sustainable with Lakeside Equipment
Wastewater treatment is essential, and it is also a huge contributor to emissions from the plants, making it a huge opportunity for sustainability efforts. Overall, there are a lot of different ways sustainability can be achieved with wastewater treatment, and the benefits are prominent. Sustainability is something many industries are trying to achieve, as there is more knowledge around how our planet is being affected by increased emissions, energy usage, and other practices that are not sustainable.
With Lakeside Equipment, we offer many different equipment options for sustainability within wastewater treatment, and we can help you meet those goals while dropping your operational costs. If you’re looking for wastewater treatment equipment that can help you meet your sustainability goals, then contact us today so we can get you set up with our top-of-the-line equipment that makes for a great impact on the earth, as well as your facility.
