Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants
Besides its great potential in controlling water pollution from different sources, wastewater treatment system generates significant amount of greenhouse gases. Hence, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases from the wastewater treatment plants is the major concern. The correct understanding and estimation of the greenhouse gases emitted from different points of the plant is essential to tackle this challenge. This research has attempted to evaluate and quantify the emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from the wastewater treatment system. Anaerobic wastewater treatment is more environmental friendly treatment technology than aerobic treatment due to its low solids generation rate, low energy consumption and the production of a usable biogas. In this study, IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories are followed for calculating GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants. This paper discusses the GHG emissions for wastewater treatment and compares the environmental benefits and GHG contributions of anaerobic and aerobic treatment technologies.