Greenhouse Gas Emission and Mitigation in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

by Xinmin Zhan (Author), Hu Zhenhu (Author), Wu Guangxue (Author)

Advanced wastewater treatment processes and novel technologies are adopted
to improve nutrient removal from wastewater so as to meet stringent discharge
standards. Municipal wastewater treatment plants are one of the major
contributors to the increase in the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
and therefore it is necessary to carry out intensive studies on quantification,
assessment and characterization of GHG emissions in wastewater treatment
plants, on the life cycle assessment from GHG emission prospective, and on the
GHG mitigation strategies.


Greenhouse Gas Emission and Mitigation in Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Plants summarises the recent development in studies of greenhouse gases’
(CH4 and N2O) generation and emission in municipal wastewater treatment
plants. It introduces the concepts of direct emission and indirect emission, and
the mechanisms of GHG generations in wastewater treatment plants’ processing
units. The book explicitly describes the techniques used to quantify direct
GHG emissions in wastewater treatment plants and the protocol used by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to estimate GHG emission due
to wastewater treatment in the national GHG inventory. Finally, the book explains
the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology on GHG emissions in consideration
of the energy and chemical usage in municipal wastewater treatment plants. In
addition, the strategies to mitigate GHG emissions are discussed.


The book provides an overview for researchers, students, water professionals and
policy makers on GHG emission and mitigation in municipal wastewater treatment
plants and industrial wastewater treatment processes. It is a valuable resource
for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the water, climate, and energy
areas; for researchers in the relevant areas; and for professional reference by water
professionals, government policy makers, and research institutes