Life cycle sustainability assessment of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes management options

Improper disposal of end-of-life (EoL) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes has become a main constraint to the sustainable development of the RO membrane industry. At the same time, China is facing the challenge of EoL-RO membranes management due to the high demand for RO membranes. This study implements a life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), which combines life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and social life cycle assessment to quantify the environmental, economic, and social impacts of EoL-RO membranes management options in China. The goal of this study is to identify more sustainable alternatives to landfill disposal. The results show that reuse and direct recycling are highly sustainable, indirect recycling is moderately sustainable, and incineration is lower sustainable. Overall, they all result in better performance than landfill disposal. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that rational planning of transportation routes, optimization of the energy structure, and improvement of the quality of recycled products can significantly improve the environmental and economic performance of EoL-RO membranes management options. Increasing the weight of consumers and the local community can further improve their social performance.