QSDsan: Quantitative Sustainable Design for Sanitation and Resource Recovery Systems

Contents

• What is QSDsan?
• Installation
• Homepage and Documentation
• News and Updates
• Authors and 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. The platform has a range of built-in unit operations and systems, including commonly used treatment processes and biokinetic models. 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.

To get the git version (use the depth flag to choose how many commit histories you want to clone):

git clone https://github.com/QSD-Group/QSDsan.git --depth=1

Then navigate into the repository (cd QSDsan) and install in editable mode with development dependencies:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

Note

Using the depth flag will only clone the main branch by default. If you need other branches, add the --no-single-branch flag:

git clone https://github.com/<YOUR_USERNAME>/QSDsan.git --depth=1 --no-single-branch

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.

Homepage and Documentation

The QSDsan homepage and full documentation are at:

https://qsdsan.com

It hosts the tutorials, API reference, published systems and publications, and learning materials. All tutorials are written using Jupyter Notebook; you can run your own Jupyter environment, or click the launch binder badge at the top to launch the environment in your browser.

Many tutorials have companion video walkthroughs on our YouTube channel. The videos were recorded against earlier versions of QSDsan and remain useful for the concepts and the big picture, but some APIs may be outdated. Refer to the notebooks for the authoritative reference for syntax and API.

News and Updates

To receive updates, join QSDsan's Google Group. Log in to your Google account and click the Ask to join group button. If you run into any problems or would like to use a non-Gmail account, please contact us.

Authors and Contributing

QSDsan and its related packages are developed by the Quantitative Sustainable Design Group and the broader community. Yalin Li is the current maintainer. See commit history for contributors who have contributed to the repository.

If you want to contribute to QSDsan, 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.