Gaseous and bioaerosol emissions from municipal wastewater treatment plants

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are identified as potential emission sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and bioaerosols. This paper reviews and analyse the potential sources of GHGs and bioaerosols from different unit operations and processes of WWTPs. Aeration tanks of activated sludge process (ASP) are found to be the most important sources of GHGs as well as bioaerosol emissions. Nitrification and denitrification processes are found to be important sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. To minimize the N2O emissions from WWTPs, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration should be kept greater than 2 mg/L in nitrification process, whereas purely anoxic condition (0 mg/L DO) is required in denitrification process. Diffused aeration emits fewer microbes into the air than surface aerators. It is observed that fixed-film processes emit microbes by two orders of magnitude less than aeration tanks. The various WWTPs discussed in this study used different methods of treatment sample collection and species of microorganisms studied. It is realised that the standardisation of the microorganisms to be analysed and methods of sample collection needs to be done. It is also found that from the microbiological point of view, there is no clean air in the vicinity of a WWTP.