BibTex format
@phdthesis{Errington:2025,
author = {Errington, E},
title = {Life Cycle Assessment of Silica-derived Adsorbents for Wastewater Treatment},
year = {2025}
}
RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)
TY - THES
AB - Current trends in wastewater pollution are inconsistent with long-term sustainable growth. This is being exacerbated by increases in the presence of emerging wastewater pollutants (EWPs), which existing treatment approaches are often not well-equipped to handle.Silica-Based adsorbent materials (SBAMs) are one technological solution being investigated as a treatment for EWPs. This is for many reasons, including the desirable material properties of silica, ease of manufacturability, and the ability to undergo surface chemistry modifications – all of which enable SBAMs to be tuned to treat individual pollutants effectively. However, the environmental impact (EI) of producing and using SBAMs is still poorly understood.This work addresses gaps in understanding for the EI of SBAMs and intermediate materials used in their manufacture. This is done by using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, supported by material and energy use estimates developed from a mixture of literature review (academic and patents), process design modelling, and laboratory experimentation. The utility of this understanding is then demonstrated by a case-study of the EI of using SBAMs to recover vegetable oils - an example source of “Fat, oil and Grease” EWP.Results of the work provide new predictions for the EI of a range of materials used in SBAM manufacture, including: 1) silica substrates, 2) surface chemistry modifiers, 3) surface-modified SBAMs, and 4) associated intermediates (e.g. organic surfactants, silicon metals, and chlorosilanes). A major finding is the importance of silica precursor choice for the EI of silica substrates, which accounts for between 69 and 100% of the EI of commercial silica substrates considered across several EI categories. Study also suggests that precursor choice can drive large changes in the absolute EI of SBAM products (e.g. 4 to 92 kg-CO2eq/kg) via wider effects on wider process design. Nonethless, it is shown that emerging SBAM substrates
AU - Errington,E
PY - 2025///
TI - Life Cycle Assessment of Silica-derived Adsorbents for Wastewater Treatment
ER -