A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants

Xavier Flores-Alsina; Magnus Arnell; Youri Amerlinck; Lluis Corominas; Krist Gernaey; Lisha  Guo; Erik Lindblom; Ingmar Nopens; Jose Poro; Andy Shaw; Peter A. Vanrolleghem; Ulf Jeppsson

A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants

Xavier Flores-Alsina, Magnus Arnell, Youri Amerlinck, Lluis Corominas, Krist Gernaey, Lisha Guo, Erik Lindblom, Ingmar Nopens, Jose Poro, Andy Shaw, Peter A. Vanrolleghem, Ulf Jeppsson

Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

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Abstract

The widened scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to consider not only water quality and cost, but also
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change calls for new tools to evaluate operational strategies/treatment
technologies. The IWA Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2) has been widely used within the scientific
community for the unbiased comparison of control strategies in wastewater treatment facilities. In this paper, the
default set of BSM models is extended with a set of comprehensive dynamic approaches that estimate the most
significant on-site (secondary treatment, sludge processing) and off-site (net energy use, embedded chemicals, sludge
disposal) sources of GHG emissions. The case study presented here calculates and discusses the changes in the
effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices and the formation of carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH4)
and nitrous oxide (N₂O) when modifying the percentage of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency in the
primary clarifier (PRIM). Simulations show that high PRIM efficiency decreases the quantity of TSS entering the
activate sludge (AS) section leading to lower operational cost due to better energy recovery (and subsequent reduced
GHG emissions) in the sludge line, but increases the overall N2O emissions due to the low C/N ratio as a trade-off.
Overloading of the bioreactors as a result of poor PRIM performance: i) increases the biogenic CO₂ emissions from
BOD oxidation and biomass decay in the AS section; ii) increases off-site CO2 emissions due to higher energy
demand during the nitrification stage; and, iii) reduces energy recovery from settled organics. The reported results
emphasize the importance of a plant-wide approach and the need to consider the interactions between the different
treatment units when evaluating the global warming potential (GWP) of a WWTP. Finally, the paper demonstrates
the potential of using the proposed approach as a general model-based tool for determining the most sustainable
WWTP operational strategies, which is essential in a water sector where climate change, energy and sustainability
are key challenges to be tackled.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy
Number of pages	8
Publication date	2012
Publication status	Published - 2012
Event	IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy 2012 - Dublin, Ireland Duration: 13 May 2012 → 18 May 2012

Conference

Conference	IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy 2012
Country/Territory	Ireland
City	Dublin
Period	13/05/2012 → 18/05/2012

Keywords

Activated sludge modelling
Benchmarking
Global warming
Model-based evaluation
Multi-criteria decision making
Process control
Sustainability

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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title = "A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants",

abstract = "The widened scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to consider not only water quality and cost, but also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change calls for new tools to evaluate operational strategies/treatment technologies. The IWA Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2) has been widely used within the scientific community for the unbiased comparison of control strategies in wastewater treatment facilities. In this paper, the default set of BSM models is extended with a set of comprehensive dynamic approaches that estimate the most significant on-site (secondary treatment, sludge processing) and off-site (net energy use, embedded chemicals, sludge disposal) sources of GHG emissions. The case study presented here calculates and discusses the changes in the effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices and the formation of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) when modifying the percentage of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency in the primary clarifier (PRIM). Simulations show that high PRIM efficiency decreases the quantity of TSS entering the activate sludge (AS) section leading to lower operational cost due to better energy recovery (and subsequent reduced GHG emissions) in the sludge line, but increases the overall N2O emissions due to the low C/N ratio as a trade-off. Overloading of the bioreactors as a result of poor PRIM performance: i) increases the biogenic CO2 emissions from BOD oxidation and biomass decay in the AS section; ii) increases off-site CO2 emissions due to higher energy demand during the nitrification stage; and, iii) reduces energy recovery from settled organics. The reported results emphasize the importance of a plant-wide approach and the need to consider the interactions between the different treatment units when evaluating the global warming potential (GWP) of a WWTP. Finally, the paper demonstrates the potential of using the proposed approach as a general model-based tool for determining the most sustainable WWTP operational strategies, which is essential in a water sector where climate change, energy and sustainability are key challenges to be tackled.",

keywords = "Activated sludge modelling, Benchmarking, Global warming, Model-based evaluation, Multi-criteria decision making, Process control, Sustainability",

author = "Xavier Flores-Alsina and Magnus Arnell and Youri Amerlinck and Lluis Corominas and Krist Gernaey and Lisha Guo and Erik Lindblom and Ingmar Nopens and Jose Poro and Andy Shaw and Vanrolleghem, {Peter A.} and Ulf Jeppsson",

year = "2012",

language = "English",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy",

note = "IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy 2012, IWA-WCE 2012 ; Conference date: 13-05-2012 Through 18-05-2012",

}

Flores-Alsina, X, Arnell, M, Amerlinck, Y, Corominas, L, Gernaey, K, Guo, L, Lindblom, E, Nopens, I, Poro, J, Shaw, A, Vanrolleghem, PA & Jeppsson, U 2012, A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants. in Proceedings of the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy . IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy 2012, Dublin, Ireland, 13/05/2012.

TY - GEN

T1 - A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants

AU - Flores-Alsina, Xavier

AU - Arnell, Magnus

AU - Amerlinck, Youri

AU - Corominas, Lluis

AU - Gernaey, Krist

AU - Guo, Lisha

AU - Lindblom, Erik

AU - Nopens, Ingmar

AU - Poro, Jose

AU - Shaw, Andy

AU - Vanrolleghem, Peter A.

AU - Jeppsson, Ulf

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - The widened scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to consider not only water quality and cost, but also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change calls for new tools to evaluate operational strategies/treatment technologies. The IWA Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2) has been widely used within the scientific community for the unbiased comparison of control strategies in wastewater treatment facilities. In this paper, the default set of BSM models is extended with a set of comprehensive dynamic approaches that estimate the most significant on-site (secondary treatment, sludge processing) and off-site (net energy use, embedded chemicals, sludge disposal) sources of GHG emissions. The case study presented here calculates and discusses the changes in the effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices and the formation of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) when modifying the percentage of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency in the primary clarifier (PRIM). Simulations show that high PRIM efficiency decreases the quantity of TSS entering the activate sludge (AS) section leading to lower operational cost due to better energy recovery (and subsequent reduced GHG emissions) in the sludge line, but increases the overall N2O emissions due to the low C/N ratio as a trade-off. Overloading of the bioreactors as a result of poor PRIM performance: i) increases the biogenic CO2 emissions from BOD oxidation and biomass decay in the AS section; ii) increases off-site CO2 emissions due to higher energy demand during the nitrification stage; and, iii) reduces energy recovery from settled organics. The reported results emphasize the importance of a plant-wide approach and the need to consider the interactions between the different treatment units when evaluating the global warming potential (GWP) of a WWTP. Finally, the paper demonstrates the potential of using the proposed approach as a general model-based tool for determining the most sustainable WWTP operational strategies, which is essential in a water sector where climate change, energy and sustainability are key challenges to be tackled.

AB - The widened scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to consider not only water quality and cost, but also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change calls for new tools to evaluate operational strategies/treatment technologies. The IWA Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 (BSM2) has been widely used within the scientific community for the unbiased comparison of control strategies in wastewater treatment facilities. In this paper, the default set of BSM models is extended with a set of comprehensive dynamic approaches that estimate the most significant on-site (secondary treatment, sludge processing) and off-site (net energy use, embedded chemicals, sludge disposal) sources of GHG emissions. The case study presented here calculates and discusses the changes in the effluent quality (EQI) and operational cost (OCI) indices and the formation of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) when modifying the percentage of total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency in the primary clarifier (PRIM). Simulations show that high PRIM efficiency decreases the quantity of TSS entering the activate sludge (AS) section leading to lower operational cost due to better energy recovery (and subsequent reduced GHG emissions) in the sludge line, but increases the overall N2O emissions due to the low C/N ratio as a trade-off. Overloading of the bioreactors as a result of poor PRIM performance: i) increases the biogenic CO2 emissions from BOD oxidation and biomass decay in the AS section; ii) increases off-site CO2 emissions due to higher energy demand during the nitrification stage; and, iii) reduces energy recovery from settled organics. The reported results emphasize the importance of a plant-wide approach and the need to consider the interactions between the different treatment units when evaluating the global warming potential (GWP) of a WWTP. Finally, the paper demonstrates the potential of using the proposed approach as a general model-based tool for determining the most sustainable WWTP operational strategies, which is essential in a water sector where climate change, energy and sustainability are key challenges to be tackled.

KW - Activated sludge modelling

KW - Benchmarking

KW - Global warming

KW - Model-based evaluation

KW - Multi-criteria decision making

KW - Process control

KW - Sustainability

M3 - Article in proceedings

BT - Proceedings of the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy

T2 - IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy 2012

Y2 - 13 May 2012 through 18 May 2012

ER -

A dynamic modelling approach to evaluate GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

UN SDGs

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