Name
Real-time monitoring of NO2-/NO3- to predict N2O
Authors
Hamish Todd, Scottish Water, UK
Xavier Cama and Colm Lynch, Aquamonitrix, Ireland
Description

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 298 times greater than carbon dioxide. Emissions of N₂O commonly arise during biological nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), yet conventional monitoring approaches—such as liquid-phase sensors and off gas measurements—are often costly and challenging to operate. Likewise, laboratory-based ion chromatography used to measure key N₂O precursors, including nitrite (NO₂⁻) and nitrate (NO₃⁻), requires manual sampling, significant resources, and is prone to inaccuracies due to the transient nature of wastewater constituents. Additionally these tests cannot be carried out in situ. In this study, we demonstrate that normalising realtime, in-situ liquid-phase datasets reveals a strong correlation between N₂O and NO₂⁻ concentrations. By leveraging the in situ Aquamonitrix ion chromatography system, the correlations can be harnessed to enable prediction of N₂O concentrations. This approach offers another practical and cost effective pathway for continuous monitoring and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in WWTPs.

Track
Process Emissions