Study on the Quantitative Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions in Sewage-Sludge Treatment System

Abstract

Global economic development has highlighted the issue of climate change, which is one of the most important environmental issues plaguing human beings. It is widely agreed that excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are important factors contributing to global warming. Many countries have formulated corresponding GHG emission reduction plans to deal with climate change issues. An important GHG emission source is released from sewage-sludge treatment systems. However, there has not been a comprehensive quantitative GHG emissions evaluation system in the case of sewage-sludge treatment systems, due to multiple emission sources, complex processes, and different standards. In previous studies, the Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2006) and Chinese Greenhouse Gas Inventory (National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, NCSC, 2005) were widely applied to estimate GHG emissions from sewage-sludge treatment. However, IPCC does not consider CO2 emissions from sewage treatment, and NCSC does not consider CO2 emissions from the sewage treatment and N2O emissions from sludge treatment. Therefore, the following have been conducted in this study: (1) A GHG estimation model basing on Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) was constructed, and the research objects were CH4, N2O, and CO2 that were produced by the sewage-sludge treatment system. The estimation model of CO2 and N2O, which were ignored in the IPCC report, were analyzed and discussed. The models of the GHG emission estimation were summarized and improved in the urban sewage-sludge treatment system under the different sewage-sludge treatment process scenarios. (2) The GHG emission load of major urban sewage-sludge treatment processes was analyzed, and the level and key links of environmental impacts generated by different processes were identified. This helps to understand and compare the environmental impacts of different treatment processes and provides suggestions for the sustainable development of wastewater treatment processes. (3) The GHG emission characteristics of nine scenarios of different sewage-sludge treatment processes were analyzed, and the environmental impacts caused by energy consumption and chemicals consumption were studied. Consequently, the sewage-sludge treatment process under low carbonization and low environment impact were proposed.