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ESTIMATES OF GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRIAL AND DOMESTIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Citation:
Doorn, M., R. Strait, W Barnard, AND B. Eklund. ESTIMATES OF GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRIAL AND DOMESTIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-97/091 (NTIS PB98-106420), 1997.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
The report summarizes the findings of field tests and provides emission factors for methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from wastewater treatment (WWT). It also includes country-specific activity data on industrial and domestic WWT which were used to develop country-specific emission estimates for CH4 and N2O. The report concludes that WWT is unlikely to be a significant source of volatile organic carbon and carbon dioxide emissions. Global CH4 emissions from industrial WWT are estimated to be between 0.6 and 6.1 Tg /yr, with a mean value of 2.4 Tg/ yr. The biggest contributor to industrial CH4 emissions from WWT is the pulp and paper industry in developing and Eastern European countries. The second principal contributor to CH4 emissions from WWT is the meat and poultry industry. Global CH4 emissions from domestic WWT are estimated to be between 0.6 and 2.1 Tg/ yr, with a mean value of 1.3 Tg/yr. Russia is believed to be the largest contributor. CH4 emissions from untreated domestic wastewater may be many times higher than those of treated wastewater. The report provides rough estimates for global N2O emissions from WWT. Global emissions from anaerobic domestic WWT are estimated to be 0.5 Tg/yr, and wastewater from the meat and poultry processing industries is expected to emit about 0.24 Tg/yr.