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Estimation of methane emission from an urban wastewater treatment plant applying inverse Gaussian model

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Abstract

The methane (CH4) emissions from urban sources are increasing, and they depend on the processes and technologies applied in each one. Thus, studying them individually to quantify their emissions and understand their behavior to design CH4 mitigation strategies is meaningful. Although many studies have been carried out in different cities worldwide, the complex methodologies and technologies applied are not readily available in developing countries. The main objective of this work is to apply a simple and inexpensive methodology to collect air samples in urban areas using syringes with a three-way stopcock. Considering the baseline concentration in different urban zones, the WWTP contribution to atmospheric CH4 concentration was assessed. Moreover, it was possible to estimate the CH4 emission rate from the source by applying the inverse Gaussian model. The atmospheric CH4 concentrations inside and around the WWTP varied from 2.04 to 32.78 ppm. Most of the highest concentrations were found inside the WWTP; however, high concentrations were found up to 500 m from its center. The values in the urban zones were between 2.06 and 3.52 ppm, consistently higher in the area with the highest population density. Finally, considering the WWTP as a single source and according to the operational and atmospheric conditions during the studied period, the mean CH4 emission rate from this source was 2.08E + 04 μg s−1. The proposed sampling methodology could be applied to estimate CH4 emission rates from fixed sources in areas with overlapping sources.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during the current study are available in the Mendeley Data repository: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/c7hjmtrbp8/1. Stadler, Carla Sofía; Fusé, Victoria Susana; Linares, Santiago; Juliarena, Maria Paula (2021), “Atmospheric CH4 concentration in a WWTP and different urban zones”, Mendeley Data, V1, https://doi.org/10.17632/c7hjmtrbp8.1.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Weather Service and Meteotandil weather station for the meteorological data. Carla S. Stadler is a graduate student in the Environment and Health Applied Sciences Doctoral Program (DCAAS) at the National University of the Center of Buenos Aires Province (UNCPBA), Argentina.

Funding

This work was supported by the Secretary of Science, Art and Technology (SECAT) of National University of the Center of Buenos Aires Province (UNCPBA), Argentina [03-PIO-21D] and by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MINCyT), Argentina [PUE-CIFICEN—22920170100004CO].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones en Física E Ingeniería, Centro de La Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIFICEN-UNCPBA-CICPBA-CONICET), Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina

    Carla Stadler, Victoria S. Fusé & Paula Juliarena

  2. Centro de Investigaciones Geográficas (CIG-IGEHCS-UNCPBA-CONICET), Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina

    Santiago Linares

Authors
  1. Carla Stadler
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  2. Victoria S. Fusé
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  3. Santiago Linares
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  4. Paula Juliarena
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Contributions

Carla Stadler: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing – Original Draft, Visualization. Victoria S Fusé: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing. Santiago Linares: Formal analysis, Writing – Review & Editing. Paula Juliarena: Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration.

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Correspondence to Paula Juliarena.

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Stadler, C., Fusé, V.S., Linares, S. et al. Estimation of methane emission from an urban wastewater treatment plant applying inverse Gaussian model. Environ Monit Assess 194, 27 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09660-4

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