IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v12y2023i10p114-d1247319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Affecting Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plants—A Review

Author

Listed:
  • Liana Kemmou

    (Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry & Water and Wastewater Treatment, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece)

  • Elisavet Amanatidou

    (Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry & Water and Wastewater Treatment, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, 50100 Kozani, Greece)

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a greenhouse gas contributing to ozone layer depletion and climate change. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) contribute significantly to the global anthropogenic N 2 O emissions. The main factors affecting N 2 O emissions are the dissolved oxygen concentration (DO), the nitrite accumulation, the rapidly changing process conditions, the substrate composition and COD/N ratio, the pH, and the temperature. Low DO in the nitrification process results in higher N 2 O emissions, whereas high aeration rate in the nitration/anammox process results in higher N 2 O production. High DO in the denitrification inhibits the N 2 O reductase synthesis/activity, leading to N 2 O accumulation. High nitrite accumulation in both the nitrification and denitrification processes leads to high N 2 O emissions. Transient DO changes and rapid shifts in pH result in high N 2 O production. Ammonia shock loads leads to incomplete nitrification, resulting in NO 2 − accumulation and N 2 O formation. Limiting the biodegradable substrate hinders complete denitrification, leading to high N 2 O production. A COD/N ratio above 4 results in 20–30% of the nitrogen load being N 2 O emissions. Maximum N 2 O production at low pH (pH = 6) was observed during nitrification/denitrification and at high pH (pH = 8) during partial nitrification. High temperature enhances the denitrification kinetics but produces more Ν 2 O emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Liana Kemmou & Elisavet Amanatidou, 2023. "Factors Affecting Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plants—A Review," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-26, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:12:y:2023:i:10:p:114-:d:1247319
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/12/10/114/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/12/10/114/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Strous & John A. Fuerst & Evelien H. M. Kramer & Susanne Logemann & Gerard Muyzer & Katinka T. van de Pas-Schoonen & Richard Webb & J. Gijs Kuenen & Mike S. M. Jetten, 1999. "Missing lithotroph identified as new planctomycete," Nature, Nature, vol. 400(6743), pages 446-449, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin Li & Yaqi You & Krishna Pagilla, 2020. "Density-Based Separation of Microbial Functional Groups in Activated Sludge," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Shuanglei Huang & Daishe Wu, 2021. "Start-up Strategies for Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation (Anammox) in In-Situ Nitrogen Removal from Polluted Groundwater in Rare Earth Mining Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Yuan Wei & Yue Jin & Wenjie Zhang, 2020. "Domestic Sewage Treatment Using a One-Stage ANAMMOX Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Tsung-Yueh Tsai & Wen-Yun Chen, 2022. "The Effect of Up-Flow Rate on the Nitrogen Treatment Efficiency and Sludge Characteristics of ANAMMOX Process with Up-Flow Anaerobic Sludge Bed Reactor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-10, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:12:y:2023:i:10:p:114-:d:1247319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.