Start Over

Performance of wastewater treatment plants in emission of greenhouse gases.

Authors :: Ranieri E
D'Onghia G
Ranieri F
Lopopolo L
Gregorio S
Ranieri AC
Source :: Bioresource technology [Bioresour Technol] 2024 Jul; Vol. 404, pp. 130897. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 24.
Publication Year :: 2024
Abstract: The present work has estimated greenhouse gas emissions in aerobic and anaerobic Wastewater Treatment Plants in Southern Italy. Greenhouse gases emissions from each treatment unit were calculated based on emission factors related to Chemical Oxygen Demand removal for biogenic CO <subscript>2</subscript> and CH <subscript>4</subscript> assessment and on Nitrogen removal for N <subscript>2</subscript> O. N <subscript>2</subscript> O, biogenic CO <subscript>2,</subscript> and CH <subscript>4</subscript> emissions vary for aerobic and anaerobic-based WWTPs respectively from 73 kgCO <subscript>2eq</subscript> /PE*y for anaerobic plants to 91 kgCO <subscript>2eq</subscript> /PE*y for aerobic plants. In aerobic and anaerobic digestion systems WWTPs the contributions to CO <subscript>2eq</subscript> total emissions from N <subscript>2</subscript> O, CH <subscript>4</subscript> , biogenic CO <subscript>2</subscript> , and fossil CO <subscript>2</subscript> are 30 %-33 %, 20 %-29 %, 22 %-25 %, and 26 %-16 %, respectively. N <subscript>2</subscript> O emissions from biological processes were found the most contributing sources of greenhouse gases while in the physical processes higher contribution is indirect carbon dioxide related to energy consumption. Compensatory measures are reported to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)