Carbon footprint of drinking water softening as determined by life cycle assessment

Carbon footprint of drinking water softening as determined by life cycle assessment

Beeftink, Mart (CE Delft)
Hofs, Bas (Evides Water Company)
Kramer, O.J.I. (TU Delft Complex Fluid Processing; Waternet; Hogeschool Utrecht)
Odegard, Ingrid (CE Delft)
van der Wal, Albert (Evides Water Company; Wageningen University & Research)

2021

In the Netherlands, central softening of drinking water is widely applied for reasons of public health, client comfort, economic and environmental benefits. Currently, the detrimental contributions of softening, in particular the use of chemicals and energy, are taken into account in the carbon footprint of the Dutch drinking water companies. The beneficial contributions have, however, until now not been included in the carbon footprint. Here, we present an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) for the softening of drinking water, including effects at the household level and several sensitivity analyses. Five central softening methods were included (pellet reactor (PR), water storage reservoir (WSR), reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF) and ion exchange (IEX)). Domestic softening by IEX is represented as well. Central softening, except RO, is shown to reduce the carbon footprint when effects at the household level are included. The main detrimental contributions are caused by the consumption of chemicals and energy in the softening process. The main beneficial contributions of softened water with respect to the carbon footprint are at the household level. Decreases in water hardness result in reduced scaling and give rise to a prolonged lifespan of appliances in which water is heated, reduced energy use of those appliances and less required cleaning agents. For PR and WSR a new beneficial effect was identified; carbon capture in the crystallized calcite and dissolution of CO2 into the softened water. We show that for the Dutch water companies Evides and Waternet approximately 20% and 60%, respectively, of their total carbon footprint is compensated by the net carbon benefit of softening. The net total carbon footprint of drinking water softening in the Netherlands is estimated to be −0.11 Mtonne CO2 eq./yr.

Attributional life cycle assessment
Softening
Carbon footprint
Drinking water

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:68ac6665-dbd5-42a3-a079-0769120ccc76

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123925

0959-6526

Journal of Cleaner Production, 278

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2021 Mart Beeftink, Bas Hofs, O.J.I. Kramer, Ingrid Odegard, Albert van der Wal