Using the inverse dispersion method to determine methane emissions from biogas plants and wastewater treatment plants with complex source configurations

Bühler, Marcel; Häni, Christoph; Ammann, Christof; Brönnimann, Stefan; Kupper, Thomas (2022). Using the inverse dispersion method to determine methane emissions from biogas plants and wastewater treatment plants with complex source configurations Atmospheric Environment: X, 13, p. 100161. Elsevier 10.1016/j.aeaoa.2022.100161

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Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and biogas plants (BGPs) are significant sources of methane (CH4), with a combined share of around 40 % within the waste sector of the Swiss national emission inventory. We conducted whole-plant CH4 emission measurements at two WWTPs and four agricultural BGPs in Switzerland using the inverse dispersion method (IDM). This involved open-path concentration measurements up- and downwind of the plant in combination with a backward Lagrangian stochastic (bLS) model. WWTPs in particular consist of multiple CH4 sources with different areas and emission strengths. For the combination of the individual emission sources in the bLS modelling, three different calculation approaches with different levels of detail were applied: (i) single source over enveloping polygon area, (ii) uniform emission density for all individual source areas, (iii) specified relative weighting of individual sources based on literature data. Average CH4 emissions for WWTP 1 and WWTP 2 were 0.82 kg h-1 and 0.61 kg h-1 and scaled to population equivalents (PE) 166 g PE-1 y-1 and 381 g PE-1 y-1, respectively. BGPs CH4 emissions varied between 0.39 kg h-1 and 2.22 kg h-1, corresponding to less than 5 % of the plants’ CH4 production. The highest numbers were due to measurements during other than normal operating conditions. The emissions of WWTPs and BGPs comply with literature values. Approach (iii) with source weighting led to a difference of up to 43 % for the two WWTPs compared to the assumption of uniform emissions. Furthermore, we demonstrate how multiple open-path concentration measurements can be combined and how the measurements can be corrected for nearby external CH4 sources not belonging to the investigated plants. The results of the present study contribute to improved emission data from the waste sector.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture > Sustainability and Circular Economy
Name:	Bühler, Marcel0000-0001-6433-6257; Häni, Christoph0000-0003-1458-1849; Ammann, Christof; Brönnimann, Stefan and Kupper, Thomas0000-0001-9459-1910
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QC Physics S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
ISSN:	25901621
Publisher:	Elsevier
Funders:	Organisations 0 not found.; Organisations 0 not found.; Organisations 0 not found.
Language:	English
Submitter:	Marcel Bühler
Date Deposited:	18 Mar 2022 10:52
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2022 10:52
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.aeaoa.2022.100161
Related URLs:	Publisher
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Anaerobic digestion, Backward Lagrangian stochastic, GasFinder, Open-path tunable diode laser, Source combination
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.16702
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/16702