Development of Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors from Sewage Sludge Incinerator

Abstract

In this study, the researchers have developed the greenhouse gas emission coefficients targeted at sewage sludge incineration plants that treat sewage sludge by incineration. Among the gases emitted from the sewage sludge incineration plants, the greenhouse gases showed concentrations of 6.84% for CO₂, 4.51 ppm for CH₄, and 86.34 ppm for N₂O; calculated into greenhouse gas emission coefficients, these gave 276.06 kg CO₂/ton, 0.0066 kg CH₄/ton, and 0.35 kg N₂O/ton. As the result of calculating the greenhouse gas emission quantity in sewage sludge incineration plants using the greenhouse gas emission coefficients, the gross greenhouse gas emission was 84.63 ton CO₂ eq./day, and the net emission was 23.90 ton CO₂ eq./day; this was 37.52 ton CO₂ eq./day less than the net greenhouse gas emission that was calculated using the standard values of IPCC, which was 61.42 ton CO₂ eq./day. This difference is probably because unlike the standard values of IPCC, the greenhouse gas emission coefficients of this study reflected the special properties of subject facilities. Thus, it is thought that emission coefficient research on the facilities that deviated from the standard values of IPCC should continue to achieve the development of national greenhouse gas coefficient that reflects the special properties of Korea.