qsdsan 1.5.0

Quantitative Sustainable Design for sanitation and resource recovery systems

Contents

• What is QSDsan?

• Installation

• Documentation

• About the Authors

• Contributing

• License Information

• References

What is QSDsan?

QSDsan is an open-source, community-led platform for the quantitative sustainable design (QSD) [1] of sanitation and resource recovery systems [2]. Built in Python, it integrates process modeling, system simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) to support transparent, reproducible, and comprehensive evaluation of emerging technologies. Leveraging BioSTEAM [3], the platform provides modular and extensible tools to compare treatment configurations, evaluate resource recovery opportunities, and assess energy, cost, and sustainability tradeoffs. These capabilities support the research, development, and deployment (RD&D) of early-stage technologies for advancing sustainable water management and circular resource recovery.

All systems developed with QSDsan are included in the package EXPOsan - exposition of sanitation and resource recovery systems.

Installation

QSDsan requires Python 3.12 or newer. The easiest way to install QSDsan is through pip in a command-line interface (e.g., terminal, PowerShell, etc.):

pip install qsdsan

To upgrade an existing installation:

pip install -U qsdsan

To install a specific version, replace X.X.X with the version number:

pip install qsdsan==X.X.X

To install the latest GitHub version from the main branch:

pip install git+https://github.com/QSD-Group/QSDsan.git

To install from another fork and/or branch, replace <USERNAME_OF_THE_FORK> and <BRANCH_NAME>:

pip install git+https://github.com/<USERNAME_OF_THE_FORK>/QSDsan.git@<BRANCH_NAME>

You can also download the package from PyPI.

For diagram generation, QSDsan uses Graphviz. If diagrams fail to render, install Graphviz following the official Graphviz download instructions and see the FAQ for a quick check.

If you want to contribute to QSDsan, please follow the steps in the Contributing Guidelines to clone the repository and install it in editable mode.

Documentation

You can find tutorials and documents at:

https://qsdsan.readthedocs.io

All tutorials are written using Jupyter Notebook, you can run your own Jupyter environment, or you can click the launch binder badge on the top to launch the environment in your browser.

For each of these tutorials, we are also recording videos where one of the QSD group members will go through the tutorial step-by-step. We are gradually releasing these videos on our YouTube channel so subscribe to receive updates!

About the Authors

QSDsan is developed and maintained by the Quantitative Sustainable Design Group and the broader community. Please refer to the GitHub contributors for the latest record of contributions.

Contributing

Please refer to the Contributing Guidelines section of the documentation for instructions and guidelines.

License Information

Please refer to the LICENSE.txt for information on the terms & conditions for usage of this software, and a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.

References

[1]

Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Morgan, V.L.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Rowles, L.S.; Mittal, S.; Kogler, A.; Cusick, R.D.; Tarpeh, W.A.; Guest, J.S. QSDsan: An integrated platform for quantitative sustainable design of sanitation and resource recovery systems. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 2022, 8 (10), 2289-2303. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ew00455k.

[2]

Li, Y.; Trimmer, J.T.; Hand, S.; Zhang, X.; Chambers, K.G.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Shi, R.; Byrne, D.M.; Cook, S.M.; Guest, J.S. Quantitative Sustainable Design (QSD): A Methodology for the Prioritization of Research, Development, and Deployment of Technologies. (Tutorial Review) Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 2022, 8 (11), 2439–2465. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00431C.

[3]

Cortés-Peña, Y.; Kumar, D.; Singh, V.; Guest, J.S. BioSTEAM: A Fast and Flexible Platform for the Design, Simulation, and Techno-Economic Analysis of Biorefineries under Uncertainty. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2020, 8 (8), 3302–3310. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b07040.