A study pioneer analyzes the emission of GHG in Catalan sewage treatment plants

The Catalan Institute for water research (Icra) has launched a research pioneer in Catalunya to study the emission of nitrogen dioxide (N₂or) in the treatment of waste water (WWTP), in order to mitigate the production of a gas whose greenhouse is 300 times more potent than the CO₂. The research will determine the processes of production of the N₂O during the cleansing, by defining what environmental conditions favouring its broadcast by micro-organisms involved in the removal of nitrogen from wastewater, explained the Chief of the area of technology and evaluation of the IcraManel Poch.

In addition, the study quantify emissions of N₂or in the sewage treatment plants, put that direct measurements in the plant give much higher values that the theoretical estimate of the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC), which holds that the gas emissions represent 1 per cent of the nitrogen present in the waste water. "Every industry must take responsibility for their emissions, are large or small," said the researcher of the Icra Mayte Pijuan, who has noted the importance of knowing the mechanisms of production of N₂or to to predict them and optimize water treatment. Pijuan has also trusted that future regulations take into account the emissions of gases in water treatment plants, as well as regulate the limits of the nutrients in the effluents of the plant.

Countries as Sweden a few years ago that they measure the production of N₂or in sewage treatment plants urban, as long as it does in 2009 was published the first study of monitoring of emissions in various plants in the United States.UU. Similar to the Icra studies are also carried out in Australia and the Netherlands.