Substance flow analysis for an urban drainage system of a representative hypothetical city in China

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of substance flow analysis (SFA) as a tool to support quantified research on urban drainage systems. Based on the principle of mass balance, a static substance flow model is established to describe and examine the routes and intensities of water, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) for a representative hypothetical city (RH city) in China, which is a devised and scaled city using statistical characteristics of urban circumstances at the national level. It is estimated that the annual flux of water, COD, TN and TP through the urban drainage system in 2010 was 55.1 million m³, 16037.3 t, 1649.5 t and 209.7 t, respectively. The effluent of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was identified as the most important pathway for pollutant emissions, which contributed approximately 60% of COD, 65% of TN and 50% of TP to receiving water. During the wastewater treatment process, 1.0 million m³, 7042.5 t, 584.2 t and 161.4 t of the four studied substances had been transmitted into sludge, meanwhile 3813.0 t of COD and 394.0 t of TN were converted and emitted to the atmosphere. Compared with the representative hypothetical city of 2000, urban population and the area of urban built districts had expanded by approximately 90% and 80% respectively during the decade, resulting in a more than threefold increase in the input of substances into the urban drainage system. Thanks to the development of urban drainage systems, the total loads of the city were maintained at a similar level.

Keywords

substance flow analysis (SFA) / urban drainage system / representative hypothetical city (RH city) / water pollution control

References

[1] Bhatta B. Analysis of urban growth and sprawl form remote sensing data. Berlin: Springer 2010

[2] González A, Donnelly A, Jones M, Chrysoulakis N, Lopes M. A decision-support system for sustainable urban metabolism in Europe. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 2013, 38: 109–119

[3] Forkes J. Nitrogen balance for the urban food metabolism of Toronto. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2007, 52(1): 74–94

[4] Kennedy C, Pincetl S, Bunje P. The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design. Environmental pollution, 2011, 159(8-9): 1965–1973

[5] Li S S, Yuan Z W, Bi J, Wu H J. Anthropogenic phosphorus flow analysis of Hefei City, China. The Science of the total environment, 2010, 408(23): 5715–5722

[6] Yuan Z W, Liu X, Wu H J, Zhang L, Bi J. Anthropogenic phosphorus flow analysis of Lujiang County, Anhui Province, Central China. Ecological Modelling, 2011, 222(8): 1534–1543

[7] Liu J, Wang R, Yang J. Metabolism and driving forces of Chinese urban household consumption. Population and Environment, 2005, 26(4): 325–341

[8] Lindqvist A, von Malmborg F. What can we learn from local substance flow analyses? The review of cadmium flows in Swedish municipalities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2004, 12(8-10): 909–918

[9] Liu H, Zhang Y. Ecological network analysis of urban metabolism based on input-output table. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 2012, 13: 1611–1623

[10] Paul B, Helmut R. Practical handbook of material flow analysis. CRC Press, New York, USA.2004

[11] Daigo I, Matsuno Y, Adachi Y. Substance flow analysis of chromium and nickel in the material flow of stainless steel in Japan. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2010, 54(11): 851–863

[12] Reck B K, Müller D B, Rostkowski K, Graedel T E. Anthropogenic nickel cycle: insights into use, trade, and recycling. Environmental Science & Technology, 2008, 42(9): 3394–3400

[13] Rostkowski K, Rauch J, Drakonakis K, Reck B, Gordon R B, Graedel T E. “Bottom-up” study of in-use nickel stocks in New Haven, CT. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2007, 50(1): 58–70

[14] Guo X, Zhong J, Song Y, Tian Q. Substance flow analysis of zinc in China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2010, 54(3): 171–177

[15] Ma H, Matsubae K, Nakajima K, Tsai M S, Shao K H, Chen P C, Lee C H, Nagasaka T. Substance flow analysis of zinc cycle and current status of electric arc furnace dust management for zinc recovery in Taiwan. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2011, 56(1): 134–140

[16] Guo X Y, Song Y. Substance flow analysis of copper in China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2008, 52(6): 874–882

[17] Jeong Y, Matsubae-Yokoyama K, Kubo H, Pak J, Nagasaka T. Substance flow analysis of phosphorus and manganese correlated with South Korean steel industry. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2009, 53(9): 479–489

[18] Chen W, Shi L, Qian Y. Substance flow analysis of aluminum in mainland China for 2001, 2004 and 2007: Exploring its initial sources, eventual sinks and the pathways linking them. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2010, 54(9): 557–570

[19] Timmermans V, van Holderbeke V. Practical experiences on applying substance flow analysis in Flanders: bookkeeping and static modeling of chromium. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2004, 12(8-10): 935–945

[20] Chen P C, Su H J, Ma H W. Trace anthropogenic arsenic in Taiwan-substance flow analysis as a tool for environmental risk management. Journal of Cleaner Production (in press)

[21] Saikku L, Antikainen R, Kauppi P E. Nitrogen and phosphorus in the Finnish energy system, 1900-2003. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2007, 11(1): 103–119

[22] Rechberger H, Brunner P H. A new, entropy based method to support waste and resource management decisions. Environmental Science & Technology, 2002, 36(4): 809–816

[23] Chèvre N, Guignard C, Rossi L, Pfeifer H R, Bader H P, Scheidegger R. Substance flow analysis as a tool for urban water management. Water Sci Technol, 2011, 63(7): 1341–1348

[24] Benedetti L, Dirckx G, Bixio D, Thoeye C, Vanrolleghem P A. Substance flow analysis of the wastewater collection and treatment system. Urban Water Journal, 2006, 3(1): 33–42

[25] Dong X, Chen J N, Zeng S Y, Du P F. Comparison of urban wastewater system based on substance flow analysis. Water & Wastewater Engineering, 2011, 37(1): 137–142 (in Chinese)

[26] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. P.R. China. China Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook 2010. Beijing: China Planning Press, 2010 (in Chinese)

[27] Zeeman G, Kujawa-Roeleveld K. Resource recovery from source separated domestic waste(water) streams; full scale results. Water Sci Technol, 2011, 64(10): 1987–1992

[28] Udert K M, Wächter M. Complete nutrient recovery from source-separated urine by nitrification and distillation. Water Research, 2012, 46(2): 453–464

[29] Che W, Ou L, Wang H, Li J. The quality and major influential factors of runoff in Beijing urban area. Techniques and Equipment for Environmental Pollution Control, 2002, 3(1): 33–37 (in Chinese)

[30] Huang G R, Nie T F. Characteristics and load of non-point source pollution of urban rainfall runoff in Guangzhou, China. Journal of South China University of Technology, 2012, 40(2): 142–148

[31] China Association of Water & Wastewater Professional Committee of Urban Drainage. China Wastewater Treatment Plants Compilation 2006 (in Chinese)

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the program “Integration of Urban Water Pollution Control Technologies and Development of Supporting Platforms” (2009ZX07318–008).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg