End-of-pipe horticultural reuse of recirculating aquaculture system effluent: comparing the hydro-economics of two horticulture systems
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2020
Authors
Moore, E.
Ward, J.
Lennard, W.
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Journal article
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Water (Switzerland), 2020; 12(5, article no. 1409):1-27
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Abstract
To assist waste management decision-making, there is a need to assess the economics of commercial-scale reuse of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) effluent in horticulture.This study compared the feasibility/viability of using two representative horticulture systems,considering their distinct hydrological characteristics, in horticultural reuse schemes for RAS effluent.These representative systems included a soil-based system in field conditions (SOIL-FIELD) and a hydroponic system in greenhouse conditions (HYDRO-GH). A novel two-step hydro-economic modelling approach was used to quantify and compare the effluent storage volume, total land area, capital expenditure and crop price required for feasible/viable end-of-pipe reuse in the two systems. The modelling assessed several water management scenarios across four Australian climates.Results showed HYDRO-GH, reusing 100% of the annual effluent load and targeting an internal rate of return of 11.0%, required approximately 3 times more land, 14 times more capital expenditure and5 times the crop price of SOIL-FIELD, targeting a 3.6% internal rate of return. As well as comparing two horticulture systems, this study presents a method to assess feasibility/viability of horticultural reuse schemes for other industrial wastewaters, using a water balance design approach.
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Copyright 2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)