Insights into greenhouse gas emissions from a wastewater treatment plant in vulnerable water areas of China

Jiemiao Ma; Xiaojing Ni; Chen Cai; Yuewu Da; Kan Hu; Ru Guo; Jia Liu; Kaiming Peng; Erwu Liu; Xiangfeng Huang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166017

Insights into greenhouse gas emissions from a wastewater treatment plant in vulnerable water areas of China

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 1:902:166017. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166017. Epub 2023 Aug 5.

Authors

Jiemiao Ma¹, Xiaojing Ni¹, Chen Cai², Yuewu Da³, Kan Hu³, Ru Guo⁴, Jia Liu⁵, Kaiming Peng⁶, Erwu Liu⁷, Xiangfeng Huang⁸

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: caic@tongji.edu.cn.
³ Wuxi Water Group Co., Ltd., Wuxi 214031, China.
⁴ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Key Laboratory of Cities Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change in Shanghai, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁵ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Frontiers Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Shanghai 201210, China.
⁶ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁷ College of Electronic Information and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁸ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Frontiers Science Center for Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Shanghai 201210, China. Electronic address: hxf@tongji.edu.cn.

PMID: 37544450
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166017

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are a significant anthropogenic source of greenhouse gas (GHG), but the quantitative assessment of GHG emissions from WWTPs in vulnerable water areas under stricter discharge limits remains unclear. Herein, depending on a case WWTP in southern China, we investigated the impacts of discharge standard improvement and key drivers of GHG emissions using daily operating data. We demonstrated that the stricter discharge limits increased the total GHG emission intensity by 18.2 %, with direct emissions increasing more than indirect GHG emissions. The GHG emissions were negatively correlated with water quantity, showing the scale effect, which became more pronounced after the discharge standard improvement. Increasing influent chemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen concentrations significantly drove the variations in GHG emissions, which were accelerated under stricter discharge limits. This study provides insights into the evaluation of GHG emission from WWTPs in vulnerable water areas and carbon-neutral wastewater management policies.

Keywords: Discharge standard improvement; Greenhouse gas emissions; Vulnerable water areas; Wastewater treatment plants.