Characteristics of greenhouse gas emission in three full-scale wastewater treatment processes

Three full-scale wastewater treatment processes, Orbal oxidation ditch, anoxic/anaerobic/aerobic （reversed A^2O） and anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic （A^2O）, were selected to investigate the emission characteristics of greenhouse gases （GHG）, including carbon dioxide （CO2）, methane （CH4） and nitrous oxide （N2O）. Results showed that although the processes were different, the units presenting high GHG emission fluxes were remarkably similar, namely the highest CO2 and N2O emission fluxes occurred in the aerobic areas, and the highest CH4 emission fluxes occurred in the grit tanks. The GHG emission amount of each unit can be calculated from its area and GHG emission flux. The calculation results revealed that the maximum emission amounts of CO2, CH4 and N2O in the three wastewater treatment processes appeared in the aerobic areas in all cases. Theoretically, CH4 should be produced in anaerobic conditions, rather than aerobic conditions. However, results in this study showed that the CH4 emission fluxes in the forepart of the aerobic area were distinctly higher than in the anaerobic area. The situation for N2O was similar to that of CH4： the N2O emission flux in the aerobic area was also higher than that in the anoxic area. Through analysis of the GHG mass balance, it was found that the flow of dissolved GHG in the wastewater treatment processes and aerators may be the main reason for this phenomenon. Based on the monitoring and calculation results, GHG emission factors for the three wastewater treatment processes were determined. The A^2O process had the highest CO2 emission factor of 319.3 g CO2/kg CODremoved, and the highest CH4 and N2O emission factors of 3.3 g CH4/kg CODremoved and 3.6 g N2O/kg TNremoved were observed in the Orbal oxidation ditch process.

Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from a subtropical coastal embayment(Moreton Bay, Australia)

Surface water methane （CH4） and nitrous oxide （N20） concentrations and fluxes were investigated in two subtropical coastal embayments （Bramble Bay and Deception Bay, which are part of the greater Moreton Bay, Australia）. Measurements were done at 23 stations in seven campaigns covering different seasons during 2010-2012. Water-air fluxes were estimated using the Thin Boundary Layer approach with a combination of wind and currents-based models for the estimation of the gas transfer velocities. The two bays were strong sources of both CH4 and N2O with no significant differences in the degree of saturation of both gases between them during all measurement campaigns. Both CH4 and N2O concentrations had strong temporal but minimal spatial variability in both bays. During the seven seasons, CH4 varied between 500% and 4000% saturation while N2O varied between 128 and 255% in the two bays. Average seasonal CH4 fluxes for the two bays varied between 0.5 ± 0.2 and 6.0 ± 1.5 mg CH4/（m^2.day） while N20 varied between 0.4 ± 0.1 and 1.6 ± 0.6 mg N2O/（m^2-day）. Weighted emissions （t CO2-e） were 63%-90% N2O dominated implying that a reduction in N2O inputs and/or nitrogen availability in the bays may significantly reduce the bays＇ greenhouse gas （GHG） budget. Emissions data for tropical and subtropical systems is still scarce. This work found subtropical bays to be significant aquatic sources of both CH4 and N2O and puts the estimated fluxes into the global context with measurements done from other climatic regions.