Title: Greenhouse gas emission estimation for a UASB reactor in a dairy wastewater treatment plant

Authors: Hakki Gülşen; Pelin Yapıcıoğlu

Addresses: Department of Environmental Engineering, Harran University, Osmanbey Campus, Şanlıurfa, Turkey ' Department of Environmental Engineering, Harran University, Osmanbey Campus, Şanlıurfa, Turkey

Abstract: Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions have been increasing, recently. One of the greenhouse gas emission resources is the anaerobic wastewater treatment process. The up flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor is the anaerobic treatment unit located in a dairy wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Turkey. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission emits from the anaerobic reactor due to the biogas generation. In this study, the on-site greenhouse gas emissions from the anaerobic reactor with and without biogas recovery were estimated from biogas amount and content using a developed model based on IPCC approach. Then, the off-site GHGs emissions were estimated from electricity consumption and chemical use. The biogas recovery reduced the greenhouse gas emissions. The highest reduction of the on-site GHGs emissions was 97%. Chemical use was the major source of the off-site GHGs emissions in this study. The main emission resource was chemical consumption for a UASB reactor located in a dairy WWTP.

Keywords: anaerobic treatment; biogas; dairy industry; global warming; greenhouse gas; GHG; on-site emissions; off-site emissions; renewable energy; UASB reactor.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2019.099802

International Journal of Global Warming, 2019 Vol.17 No.4, pp.373 - 388

Received: 14 Jan 2019
Accepted: 24 Feb 2019
Published online: 22 May 2019 *

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