Fugitive green-house gas emissions during biological wastewater treatment: investigating sources and mitigation strategies in laboratory and full-scale systems

The exponential increase of the atmospheric concentration of green-house gases due to human activities is responsible for the acceleration of global warming and climate change. Recently, scientific studies have pointed at wastewater treatment systems as relevant sources of fugitive green-house gases...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Rodríguez-Caballero, Adrián
Format: doctoral thesis
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2015
Country:España
Institution:CBUC, CESCA
Repository:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/361394
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/361394
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Wastewater treatment
Tractament d'aigües residuals
Tratamiento de aguas residuales
Greenhouse gases
Gasos d'efecte hivernacle
Gases de efecto invernadero
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Description
Summary:The exponential increase of the atmospheric concentration of green-house gases due to human activities is responsible for the acceleration of global warming and climate change. Recently, scientific studies have pointed at wastewater treatment systems as relevant sources of fugitive green-house gases (GHGs) such as nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Nitric oxide (NO) can also be emitted during wastewater treatment, and it is a potent ozone-depleting compound and a precursor of N2O. Due to the high global warming potential of N2O and CH4, emission of these gases (even at low levels) may be relevant and increase severely the overall carbon footprint of a wastewater treatment system.