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Your town\'s WWTP has yet another problem - its long-time operator has retired,

ID: 803281 • Letter: Y

Question

Your town's WWTP has yet another problem - its long-time operator has retired, and a new operator has taken over who isn't very efficient in his/her ability to facilitate denitrification The WWTP used to convert 99% of its influent nitrogen to dinitrogen gas (N_2) and only 1% of its influent nitrogen to nitrous oxide (N_2O); now. only 94% of influent nitrogen is converted to N_2 and 6% w converted to N_2O Assume the N_2O emitted per day is now 1 MT per day and that N_2O has a global warming potential 265 times that of carbon dioxide. How much has the carbon footprint of the WWTP increased because of this inefficient denitrification (in MTCE/day)?

Explanation / Answer

The total greenhouse gases emissions caused by an individual or organisation which is expressed as CO2e.

Emission of N20 per day= 1 Mt

global warming potential=265

Annual N20 emissions=1*44/28*265 ( emission factor =44/28)

=1*1.5*265

=397.5 Mt/year

Earlier 1% converted to N20

Now 6% converted to N20

=1/6*397.5

=66.25Mt/year

66.25Mt/year carbon footprint has increased