Impact of aeration control on N2O emission in a full-scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plant

This work investigated the impact of aeration control strategy on energy consumption and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant. Two identical activated sludge processes treating the same effluent but operated with different aeration control strategies were compared. Aeration tank 1 was operated with a new control strategy favouring the simultaneous nitrification denitrification (SND) whereas aeration tank 2 was operated with a conventional control strategy with distinct nitrification and denitrification phases. Results indicated that whereas the N2O emission factor was comparable in both systems (in the order of magnitude of 0.004% of the influent TKN load), N2O emission pattern was dependent on the adopted aeration control strategy. It has been observed that high aeration flow rates (aeration tank 2) were likely to promote N2O transfer from the gas phase to the liquid phase.