References

AMTD

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions

AMTD

Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss.

1867-8610

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/amtd-6-9181-2013

Estimation of waste water treatment plant methane emissions: methodology and results from a short campaign

Yver-Kwok

C. E.

¹ Müller

² Caldow

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3516-8084

³ Lebegue

¹ Mønster

J. G.

⁴ Rella

C. W.

⁵ Scheutz

⁴ Schmidt

¹ Ramonet

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1157-1186

¹ Warneke

² Broquet

¹ Ciais

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8560-4943

Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et l'Environnement (LSCE/IPSL), UMR8212, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Centre d'Etudes Orme des Merisiers, Gif sur Yvette, France

Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany

Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet-Building 115, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark

Picarro Inc., 3105 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA, USA

29 10 2013

6 5 9181 9224

2013

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/6/9181/2013/amtd-6-9181-2013.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/6/9181/2013/amtd-6-9181-2013.pdf

This paper describes different methods to estimate methane emissions at different scales. These methods are applied to a waste water treatment plant (WWTP) located in Valence, France. We show that Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) measurements as well as Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) can be used to measure emissions from the process to the regional scale. To estimate the total emissions, we investigate a tracer release method (using C2H2) and the Radon tracer method (using 222Rn). For process-scale emissions, both tracer release and chamber techniques were used. We show that the tracer release method is suitable to quantify facility- and some process-scale emissions, while the Radon tracer method encompasses not only the treatment station but also a large area around. Thus the Radon tracer method is more representative of the regional emissions around the city. Uncertainties for each method are described. Applying the methods to CH4 emissions, we find that the main source of emissions of the plant was not identified with certainty during this short campaign, although the primary source of emissions is likely to be from solid sludge. Overall, the waste water treatment plant represents a small part (3%) of the methane emissions of the city of Valence and its surroundings,which is in agreement with the national inventories.

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