Influence profile of wastewater chain in Amsterdam: Towards resilient system for phosphorus recovery and Valorisation

Abstract

The wastewater system of Amsterdam offers an opportunity to recover phosphorus, and contribute to circular economy. However, it remains unclear where to intervene in system to maximize recovery and valorisation in a resilient and feasible way. The Design Structure Matrix method was tested to define the system architecture from Food-Water-Energy nexus perspective. Physical, phosphorus, and ownership dependencies between Infrastructure, Stakeholder, Resource and Cleantech domains (elements) of the wastewater system in Amsterdam are analyzed in a Multi-Domain Matrix model. Change Propagation Indicator quantified critical elements, and emergent changes. An Influence Profile unveiled four levels of system leverage: household, neighborhood, city-block, region. The stakeholders can engage into optimizations at each level, to generate individual and shared benefits. Hybrid infrastructure, plug&play solutions and modular approach to cleantech will harness up to 100% of phosphorus available. The method proved to be an effective tool for analysing complexity and engineering resilient solutions for the circular economy.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Sanitary Engineerin