Abstract

BackgroundThe urban sewer system is an important component of urban water infrastructure for sewage collection and transportation, and in-sewer transportation of sewage can cause multitudinous contaminant degradations which lead to formation of gaseous products. Although the greenhouse gases of methane and carbon dioxide have been confirmed to consist in the gaseous products, the mechanisms of greenhouse gas generation were unclear and the significances of greenhouse gases emission from sewers were generally underestimated.ResultsIn this study, 3 years of monitoring was conducted to evaluate the greenhouse gases emission in 37-km-long urban sewer systems covering 13 km2. The results showed that the emission of carbon dioxide and methane was extensively existing in sewers, and especially, exhibited a characteristic of regional difference. In order to reveal the formation mechanism of carbon dioxide and methane in sewers, the metagenomic approach was utilized to analyze the annotated pathways and homologous bio-enzymes, and it indicated that fourteen pivotal annotated pathways were involved in the carbon dioxide and methane generation. According to the metagenomics and 3-year monitoring results, the total amounts of carbon dioxide and methane emission in sewers were calculated by the transformation venation of contaminants (such as methyl alcohol, methylamine and acetic acid along branch sewer, sub-main sewer and main sewer, respectively). The calculation results showed that the total greenhouse gas emissions in sewer were calculated to be 199 t/day in Xi’an, and if scaling up as population proportion, the greenhouse gas emission from sewer systems in China could be 30,685 t/day. Comparing with the greenhouse gas emissions from different metropolises (New York City, London and Tokyo) and industries (dairy farms, automobile production and steel enterprises), the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the urban sewer system is much higher.ConclusionsThis study revealed the transformation pathways of contaminants which promoted the generation of greenhouse gases in sewers. Based on this analysis, the greenhouse gas emissions along sewer systems were calculated. The results indicate that the greenhouse gas emission from sewer systems is non-negligible, and should be attracted sufficient attention.

Highlights

  • Due to the large and increasing amount of greenhouse gases, global warming has become an indisputable scientific fact, and a hot research topic worldwide [1]

  • During the wastewater treatment process, methane generation and incineration can lead the emissions of large amount of greenhouse gases [3]

  • As the front line of the wastewater treatment process, urban sewer systems transport a large amount of sewage every day

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Summary

Results

3 years of monitoring was conducted to evaluate the greenhouse gases emission in 37-kmlong urban sewer systems covering 13 km. The results showed that the emission of carbon dioxide and methane was extensively existing in sewers, and especially, exhibited a characteristic of regional difference. According to the metagenomics and 3-year monitoring results, the total amounts of carbon dioxide and methane emission in sewers were calculated by the transformation venation of contaminants (such as methyl alcohol, methylamine and acetic acid along branch sewer, sub-main sewer and main sewer, respectively). Comparing with the greenhouse gas emissions from different metropolises (New York City, London and Tokyo) and industries (dairy farms, automobile production and steel enterprises), the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the urban sewer system is much higher

Conclusions
Introduction
Results and discussion
1.2.99.5 Formylmethanofuran
Conclusion
Methods
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