For example, thermal power plants (e.g., gas/coal/nuclear) withdraw water for cooling, and part of the water is evaporated as steam to the environment; hydropower plants cause water loss due to evaporation in large surface areas of dam reservoirs . Notably, Jin et al. reviewed WU of various power generation technologies globally, and reported that the average water consumption for hydropower is much higher than of coal, gas and of other renewable technologies. Therefore, the water footprint in the acid recycling scenario is much higher for QC (94% electricity from hydro) than for other regions (three times higher). When less acid is with full acid recycling is due to the significant additional energy requirement to perform recycling.