Using Wastewater for Green Energy Production: A Review

Document Type : Review article

Author

Department of Civil Engineering, Tafresh University, 39518-79611, Tafresh, Iran.

Abstract
As oil resources become increasingly scarce, the need to transition to renewable energy sources is ‎critical for sustainable living. The United Nations first emphasized the importance of sustainable ‎development in 1987, highlighting the "central role" of energy in this effort. After years of research, ‎innovative solutions for sustainable energy have emerged, with energy production from wastewater ‎showing significant potential. Wastewater can be converted into biogas through anaerobic digestion, ‎where microorganisms break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce methane, which ‎can be used for electricity, heat, or fuel. This process not only aids in reducing greenhouse gas ‎emissions but also supports environmental protection and waste management. The growing demand for ‎renewable energy has sparked significant interest in these techniques, which utilize bacteria to generate ‎electricity, further demonstrating the potential of wastewater as a sustainable energy source. Using ‎wastewater for energy not only lowers operational costs but also allows treatment plants to generate ‎energy on-site, reducing reliance on external energy sources and lowering carbon emissions. Exploring ‎these renewable energy sources is crucial, particularly given the large volumes of wastewater generated ‎from agricultural, industrial, and domestic activities. This paper reviews the potential of wastewater as a ‎green energy source, discussing specific technologies for treating various wastewater types and the ‎associated challenges and opportunities. By examining successful case studies and emerging trends, it ‎aims to advance green energy solutions that promote both environmental sustainability and economic ‎growth‎‎.

Graphical Abstract

Using Wastewater for Green Energy Production: A Review

Highlights

 

Utilizing wastewater as an energy source.
Generating bioelectricity through microorganisms in biomass.
Reducing energy reliance and cutting wastewater treatment plant costs.
Using green energy sources, including agricultural, industrial, and domestic wastewater.



Keywords


 

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The ethical issues, including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, and redundancy, have been completely observed by the author.

Credit Authorship Contribution Statement
Marzie Razavi
: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Roles/Writing - original draft, Writing-review & editing.

Bibliography

Marzie Razavi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Environmental Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran in 2012 and her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran in 2020. She is currently a member of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Tafresh University. Her research interests include Water and Wastewater treatment, Electrokinetic Soil Remediation, Electrocoagulation and Energy production by Microbial Fuel Cell.

Citation
M. Razavi," Using Wastewater for Green Energy Production: A Review," Journal of Green
Energy Research and Innovation, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 14-19, 2025.

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  • Receive Date 20 July 2024
  • Revise Date 12 August 2024
  • Accept Date 17 August 2024
  • Publish Date 01 March 2025