Life cycle assessment of management alternatives for sludge from sewage treatment plants in Chile: does advanced anaerobic digestion improve environmental performance compared to current practices?

Sludge generation is currently one of the most important issues for sewage treatment plants in Chile. In this work, the life cycle environmental impacts of four sludge management scenarios were studied, focusing on the comparison of current practices and advanced anaerobic digestion (AD) using a sequential pre-treatment (PT). The results show that AD scenarios presented lower potential impacts than lime stabilization scenarios in all assessed categories, including climate change, abiotic depletion, acidification, and eutrophication in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems. The overall environmental performance of advanced digestion was similar to conventional digestion, with the main difference being a decrease in the climate change potential and an increase in the abiotic depletion potential. Acidification and eutrophication categories showed similar performances in both conventional and advanced AD. The effect of PT in the AD scenarios was related to energy recovery, sludge transport requirements and nutrient loads in the sludge and supernatant after digestate dewatering. Considering the results, PT could be a useful strategy to promote sludge valorization and decrease the environmental burdens of sludge management in Chile compared to the current scenario.