Nitrous oxide generation in full-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants

International guidance for estimating emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N 2O), from biological nutrient removal (BNR) wastewater systems is presently inadequate. This study has adopted a rigorous mass balance approach to provide comprehensive N 2O emission and formation results from se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2010-02, Vol.44 (3), p.831-844
Main Authors: Foley, Jeffrey, de Haas, David, Yuan, Zhiguo, Lant, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Australia
biochemical pathways
Biodegradation, Environmental
biofiltration
Biological
Biological nutrient removal
chemical reactions
denitrification
Effluents
Emission analysis
estimation
Exact sciences and technology
gas emissions
Greenhouse gas
Mass balance
Mass transfer
methodology
Nitrite
nitrites
Nitrogen - isolation & purification
nitrogen content
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous Oxide - analysis
Nitrous oxides
nutrient removal
Nutrients
Other industrial wastes. Sewage sludge
Oxygen - isolation & purification
Plants (organisms)
Pollution
Solubility
Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
Waste water
Wastes
Wastewater treatment
Water Purification - methods
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:International guidance for estimating emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N 2O), from biological nutrient removal (BNR) wastewater systems is presently inadequate. This study has adopted a rigorous mass balance approach to provide comprehensive N 2O emission and formation results from seven full-scale BNR wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). N 2O formation was shown to be always positive, yet highly variable across the seven plants. The calculated range of N 2O generation was 0.006–0.253 kgN 2O–N per kgN denitrified (average: 0.035 ± 0.027). This paper investigated the possible mechanisms of N 2O formation, rather than the locality of emissions. Higher N 2O generation was shown to generally correspond with higher nitrite concentrations, but with many competing and parallel nitrogen transformation reactions occurring, it was very difficult to clearly identify the predominant mechanism of N 2O production. The WWTPs designed and operated for low effluent TN (i.e.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2009.10.033