Assessment of whole-site methane emissions from anaerobic digestion plants: Towards establishing emission factors for various plant configurations

• Published in: Waste management (Elmsford) 2025-01, Vol.191, p.253-263
• Main Authors: Wechselberger, Viktoria, Hrad, Marlies, Bühler, Marcel, Kupper, Thomas, Spangl, Bernhard, Fredenslund, Anders Michael, Huber-Humer, Marion, Scheutz, Charlotte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Anaerobiosis; Biofuels - analysis; Biogas; Biomethane; Europe; Inverse dispersion modelling method; Manure; Methane - analysis; Methane - metabolism; Tracer gas dispersion; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment plants
• ISSN: 0956-053X; 1879-2456; 1879-2456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2024.11.021

•Whole-site methane emissions were determined from 19 anaerobic digestion plants.•A dataset of primary and secondary sources (109 plants) is provided.•Methane emission factors were established for different plant configurations.•Primary feedstock and plant size significantly influence methane emission factors. This study examines methane (CH4) emission factors from biogas and wastewater treatment plants, based on primary and secondary data collected from 109 facilities. Primary emission data were measured at 19 facilities representing prevalent plant configurations across Europe. Statistical analysis highlights two categorical variables, namely primary feedstock and plant size, expressed as CH4 production (≤250 kgh−1: small and medium-sized plants, >250 kgh−1: large plants), each of which has a significant impact on whole-site CH4 emissions. Additionally, digestate storage (gastight vs. not-gastight) has a meaningful effect when considering CH4 production as a continuous variable in the statistical analysis. Our results indicate that wastewater treatment plants have the highest average CH4 losses (7.0 % of CH4 produced, n = 31 or 0.10 kgpopulation equivalent(PE)-1yr−1, n = 28), followed by manure-based plants (3.7 %, n = 49), biowaste treatment facilities (2.8 %, n = 11) and energy crop-processing plants (1.9 %, n = 14). Furthermore, small and medium-sized plants have elevated emissions (5.6 %, n = 67) compared to larger counterparts (2.2 %, n = 42), primarily attributed to the absence of gastight digestate storage. Emissions tend to be lower with gastight digestate storage (2.7 %, n = 61) than not-gastight storage options (6.2 %, n = 48). Emission factors were determined for normal operating conditions, with a further investigation into other-than-normal operating conditions revealing temporal or constant emission peaks in eight out of 19 facilities. These peaks, suggesting potential areas for targeted mitigation strategies, were attributed to pressure relief valves, flare ignition problems and major leakages.