Estimation of countrywide N ₂O emissions from wastewater treatment in Switzerland using long-term monitoring data

Highlights

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  Yearlong, continuous N ₂O emission monitoring data from 14 WWTPs.

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  High correlation of yearly emission factor with effluent nitrite concentration.

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  WWTPs binned in 3 categories according to the nutrient removal goals.

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  Method proposed for refined countrywide emission estimation.

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  Carbon removal WWTP can emit substantially more N ₂O than expected.

Abstract

Nitrous oxides (N ₂O) emissions contribute to climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion. Wastewater treatment is an important, yet likely underestimated, source of N ₂O emissions, as recent, long-term monitoring campaigns have demonstrated. However, the available data are insufficient to representatively estimate countrywide emission due to the brevity of most monitoring campaigns. This study showed that the emission estimates can be significantly improved using an advanced approach based on multiple continuous, long-term monitoring campaigns. In monitoring studies on 14 full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), we found a strong variability in the yearly emission factors (EFs) (0.1 to 8% of the incoming nitrogen load) which exhibited a good correlation with effluent nitrite. But countrywide data on nitrite effluent concentrations is very limited and unavailable for emission estimation in many countries. Hence, we propose a countrywide emission factor calculated from the weighted EFs of three WWTP categories (carbon removal, EF: 0.1–8%, nitrification only: 1.8%, and full nitrogen removal: 0.9%). However, EF of carbon removal WWTPs are still highly uncertain given the expected variability in performance.

The newly developed approach allows representative, country-specific estimations of the N ₂O emissions from WWTP. Applied to Switzerland, the estimations result in an average EF of 0.9 to 3.6% and total emissions of 410 to 1690 tN ₂O-N/year, which corresponds to 0.3–1.4% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland. Our results demonstrate that better data availability and an improved understanding of long-term monitoring campaigns is crucial to improve current emission estimations. Finally, our results confirm several measures to mitigate N ₂O emissions from wastewater treatment; year-round denitrification, limiting nitrite accumulation, and stringent control of sludge age in carbon removal plants.

Graphical abstract