The study presents analysis of the carbon footprint (CF) in six medium and large-size municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located across Poland. The novelty of the presented study is searching the relationship between level of energy neutrality and CF in the case studies. Although energy and CF go hand-in-hand to some degree but moving towards energy neutrality in WWTPs might also lead to an increase in the total CF of...

This work aimed to compare the carbon footprint (CF) of six full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The CF was estimated in the range of 23–100 kg CO2e per population equivalent. In the total CF, the direct emissions held the highest share (62–74%) for the plants with energy recovery from biogas. In the plants depending entirely on the power grid, the indirect emissions due to energy consumption dominated the total CF (69–72%)....

Finland and Poland share similar environmental interests with regard to their wastewater effluents eventually being discharged to the Baltic Sea. However, differences in the influent wastewater characteristics, treatment processes, operational conditions, and carbon intensities of energy mixes in both countries make these two countries interesting for carbon footprint (CF) comparison. This study aimed at proposing a functional...

The study presents analysis of the carbon footprint (CF) in 6 wastewater treatment plants in northern Poland with a special focus on the effect of co digestion of sewage sludge and food waste. Although co-digestion increases the on-site energy production, but it has a negative effect on the total CF. To overcome the negative effect, several sludge disposal scenarios were analysed and their effect on the CF reduction was determined....