Identifying sensitive sources and key control handles for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment.

This research investigates the effects of adjusting control handle values on greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment, and reveals critical control handles and sensitive emission sources for control through the combined use of local and global sensitivity analysis methods. The direction of change in emissions, effluent quality and operational cost resulting from variation of control handles individually is determined using one-factor-at-a-time sensitivity analysis, and corresponding trade-offs are identified. The contribution of each control handle to variance in model outputs, taking into account the effects of interactions, is then explored using a variance-based sensitivity analysis method, i.e., Sobol's method, and significant second order interactions are discovered. This knowledge will assist future control strategy development and aid an efficient design and optimisation process, as it provides a better understanding of the effects of control handles on key performance indicators and identifies those for which dynamic control has the greatest potential benefits. Sources with the greatest variance in emissions, and therefore the greatest need to monitor, are also identified. It is found that variance in total emissions is predominantly due to changes in direct N2O emissions and selection of suitable values for wastage flow rate and aeration intensity in the final activated sludge reactor is of key importance. To improve effluent quality, costs and/or emissions, it is necessary to consider the effects of adjusting multiple control handles simultaneously and determine the optimum trade-off.