Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge

The process of decarbonization of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) has become a global priority. WWTP consume large amounts of energy and emit Greenhouse Gases (GHG) to remove pollutants. Therefore, this article quantitatively analyzes the greenhouse gas emissions produced during the wastewater t...

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Autores: Urrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879, Seguí Amórtegui, Luis Alberto, Guerrero García Rojas, Hilda
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/422599
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/422599
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13762-025-06338-z
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Wastewater treatment plant
Greenhouse gas emissions
Mass balance
Energy balance
Carbon emissions accounting
CO2 emission reduction and decarbonization
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament d'emissions i olors
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spelling Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challengeUrrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879Seguí Amórtegui, Luis AlbertoGuerrero García Rojas, HildaWastewater treatment plantGreenhouse gas emissionsMass balanceEnergy balanceCarbon emissions accountingCO2 emission reduction and decarbonizationÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament d'emissions i olorsThe process of decarbonization of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) has become a global priority. WWTP consume large amounts of energy and emit Greenhouse Gases (GHG) to remove pollutants. Therefore, this article quantitatively analyzes the greenhouse gas emissions produced during the wastewater treatment of one of the largest and most modern wastewater treatment plants in Europe, the El Prat del Llobregat Wastewater Plant. The assessment focused on evaluating the mass and energy balance of the entire process. Identifying the organic load present was essential for determining the impact on the generation of (GHG) during the wastewater treatment and regeneration process. According to the characteristics of the system, the inventory of total emissions is established, identifying the direct emissions produced by each of the stages (carbon dioxide and methane emissions) and the indirect emissions produced by the use of electricity and chemicals, respectively. The results revealed that the highest direct greenhouse gas emission was observed in the biological reactor with the value of 2.5 kgCO2eq/kg COD, 0.08 kg N2O/kgNremoved and 0.0062 kgCH4/kgCOD. The annual GHG emissions from CH4, N2O and CO2 emissions from the water and sludge line are equivalent to 3432 tCO2 eq, apart from the emission caused by flaring biogas, which represents 578.39 tCO2eq. The largest contribution comes from indirect emissions, where energy consumption generates 3,459,105 tCO2/eq. The largest energy consumer in the entire WWTP were the biological reactor with secondary settling and the tertiary treatment, which accounts for 45.20% and 14.8% of the total energy needs respectively.Peer Reviewed20252025-01-0920252025-01-24journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/422599https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13762-025-06338-zreponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/4225992026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
title Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
spellingShingle Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
Urrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879
Wastewater treatment plant
Greenhouse gas emissions
Mass balance
Energy balance
Carbon emissions accounting
CO2 emission reduction and decarbonization
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament d'emissions i olors
title_short Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
title_full Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
title_fullStr Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
title_sort Analysis of greenhouse gas production at the El Prat del Llobregat wastewater treatment plant, Spain: the decarbonization challenge
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Urrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879
Seguí Amórtegui, Luis Alberto
Guerrero García Rojas, Hilda
author Urrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879
author_facet Urrea Vivas, Michelle Atala|||0000-0002-8886-4879
Seguí Amórtegui, Luis Alberto
Guerrero García Rojas, Hilda
author_role author
author2 Seguí Amórtegui, Luis Alberto
Guerrero García Rojas, Hilda
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Wastewater treatment plant
Greenhouse gas emissions
Mass balance
Energy balance
Carbon emissions accounting
CO2 emission reduction and decarbonization
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament d'emissions i olors
topic Wastewater treatment plant
Greenhouse gas emissions
Mass balance
Energy balance
Carbon emissions accounting
CO2 emission reduction and decarbonization
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Enginyeria ambiental::Tractament d'emissions i olors
description The process of decarbonization of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) has become a global priority. WWTP consume large amounts of energy and emit Greenhouse Gases (GHG) to remove pollutants. Therefore, this article quantitatively analyzes the greenhouse gas emissions produced during the wastewater treatment of one of the largest and most modern wastewater treatment plants in Europe, the El Prat del Llobregat Wastewater Plant. The assessment focused on evaluating the mass and energy balance of the entire process. Identifying the organic load present was essential for determining the impact on the generation of (GHG) during the wastewater treatment and regeneration process. According to the characteristics of the system, the inventory of total emissions is established, identifying the direct emissions produced by each of the stages (carbon dioxide and methane emissions) and the indirect emissions produced by the use of electricity and chemicals, respectively. The results revealed that the highest direct greenhouse gas emission was observed in the biological reactor with the value of 2.5 kgCO2eq/kg COD, 0.08 kg N2O/kgNremoved and 0.0062 kgCH4/kgCOD. The annual GHG emissions from CH4, N2O and CO2 emissions from the water and sludge line are equivalent to 3432 tCO2 eq, apart from the emission caused by flaring biogas, which represents 578.39 tCO2eq. The largest contribution comes from indirect emissions, where energy consumption generates 3,459,105 tCO2/eq. The largest energy consumer in the entire WWTP were the biological reactor with secondary settling and the tertiary treatment, which accounts for 45.20% and 14.8% of the total energy needs respectively.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-01-09
2025
2025-01-24
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/422599
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13762-025-06338-z
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/422599
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13762-025-06338-z
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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