M4GHG: Integrating multi-Scale observations with wastewater process simulations for measuring, monitoring and modeling GHG emissions in Canadian sewers and WRRFs

北美城市被认为是全球温室气体（GHG）排放的主要贡献者，其水资源回收设施（WRRFs）和下水道不仅消耗了大量不可再生资源，而且也是甲烷（CH4）、二氧化碳（CO2）和一氧化二氮（N2O）的主要来源。例如，众所周知，污水处理站和下水道是温室气体的主要来源，主要是在其次优运行期间产生的。就wrrf而言，生物处理过程（主要是有氧的，因此需要氧气来支持代谢废水污染物的微生物的生长）需要相当大的电能，曝气占工厂支出的50%，通常来自电力生产方法，化石燃料的二氧化碳贡献很大。此外，新兴的WRRFs过程，如短程反硝化，虽然对实现能量中和至关重要，但在低溶解氧操作过程中形成的中间产物，有可能成为N2O的重要贡献者。此外，下水道过程也是温室气体的主要来源，包括CH4（未经处理的长滞留时间的下水道）和N2O（经过硝酸盐处理的下水道）。2015年，安大略省政府发布了气候变化战略，目标是到2020年将温室气体排放量减少到1990年水平的15%，到2050年减少到80%。联邦政府“净零”立法要求到2050年实现“净零”。该项目的目标是调查和探索气候友好型废水处理工艺，以及优化的下水道策略，以加速加拿大市政当局采用创新解决方案。随着wrr和污泥管理法规的日益严格，能源消耗和相关温室气体排放预计将进一步增加。虽然诸如厌氧氨氧化（Anammox）等新的处理工艺已经开发出来，以解决能源成本和养分去除问题，但很少有人关注优化处理列车和工厂布局以减轻气候变化的影响。因此，需要整体解决方案来应对这一挑战。此外，还需要建立基线温室气体排放和可靠的方法来测量、监测、模拟和减轻水资源径流和下水道的温室气体排放，以及纳入境内和跨界温室气体贡献的协议和核算程序。我们相信，随着高效和温室气体处理策略的发展，可以为加拿大废水部门设计整体解决方案，从而对安大略省的水系统和数百万依赖水系统的人产生积极影响。目前，安大略省有68个厌氧消化废水处理厂（AD WWTPs），它们是高能耗的，并且在大气中燃烧沼气。150多家中小型工厂的能源成本是第二高的运营费用。在这个项目中，将在加拿大的几个污水处理厂和相关的下水道设施中进行多尺度温室气体实验，这些设施具有不同的操作、处理工艺和工厂配置。在这些站点，温室气体数据将通过在不同尺度上进行的多种测量和监测技术收集，即：在3000米高度上使用飞机传感器进行大规模CH4观测，使用配备最先进传感器的无人机进行wrrs和下水道尺度的CH4、CO2和N2O观测，以及使用固定传感器进行更局部的量化。收集的数据将使用机器学习和人工智能驱动的数据融合技术，以及废水和下水道系统的确定性模型进行纵向集成。此外，确定性模型将与试点一起使用，在位于安大略省伦敦的Greenway WRRF最先进的研发（R&D）设施中运行，该设施已经配备了先进的试点系统，能够以顺序批处理模式模拟几种WRRF配置和下水道条件。试点实验将用于校准机械温室气体模型，并将根据飞机和无人机传感器获得的多尺度数据进一步验证。最后，温室气体验证的过程模型将用于探索最具弹性的下水道/WRRFs整合策略，目标是为加拿大的气候友好型WRRFs确定整体解决方案。拟议的研究将与包括多伦多、伦敦、卡尔加里、温莎和底特律在内的北美wrrf以及包括USP技术、GHGSat和Brown and Caldwell在内的高度专业化行业进行高度合作。行业伙伴关系将通过提供实物捐助和积极参与本项目中提出的现场活动，确保工作按照最先进的方法进行。此外，在整个项目中，将提供新兴技术领域的高级培训机会，包括下水道过程分析、生物过程模拟、数据融合和数据分析、基于模型的工厂优化、废水中试操作和创新废水处理工艺。

North American municipalities are recognized as major contributors to global green house gas (GHG) emissions, with water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) and sewers responsible not only for the consumption of considerable amounts of non-renewable resources, but also major sources of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O). For example, WRRFs and sewers are known to be a major contributor to GHGs mostly produced during their sub-optimal operations. With relation to WRRFs, biological treatment processes (which are mostly aerobic, thus requiring oxygen to support the growth of microorganisms that metabolize wastewater pollutants) require considerable electrical energy with aeration accounting for up to 50% of a plant's expenditure, often obtained from electricity production methods with significant CO2 contributions from fossil fuels. Moreover, emerging WRRFs processes such as short-cut denitrification, while crucial in achieving energy neutrality, have the potential of being strong contributors to N2O as intermediate formed during low dissolved oxygen operations. Furthermore, sewer processes are also major sources of GHGs, both for CH4 (for untreated sewer line with long retention time) and N2O (for sewer lines treated with nitrate).In 2015, the government of Ontario released its climate change strategy, with a goal of reducing GHG emissions to 15% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80% by 2050. Federal government "Net Zero" legislation mandating to achieve "Net Zero" by 2050. The goal of this project is to investigate and explore climate-friendly wastewater treatment processes, coupled with optimized sewer strategies, for accelerating the adoption of innovative solutions in Canadian municipalities. As regulations for WRRFs and sludge management become stricter, energy consumption and associated GHGs emissions are expected to further increase. While new treatment processes such as Anammox have been developed to tackle energy costs and nutrient removal, little attention has been given to optimizing treatment trains and plant layouts to mitigate climate change impacts. Thus, holistic solutions are needed to address this challenge. In addition, there is a need to establish baseline GHGs emissions and reliable methods for measuring, monitoring, modeling, and mitigating GHGs for WRRFs and sewers, together with protocols and accounting procedures for incorporating both in-boundary and transboundary GHG contributions.We believe that with the development of efficient and GHG-savvy treatment strategies, holistic solutions can be devised for the Canadian wastewater sector, thus leading to positive impact on both Ontario's water systems and the millions of people who rely on them. Currently, there are 68 anaerobic digestion wastewater treatment plants (AD WWTPs) in Ontario which are high energy intensive and flares biogas in atmosphere. More than 150 small and medium plants have energy cost as second highest operating expenses. In this project, multi-scale GHGs experiments will be carried out in several Canadian WWRFs, and associated sewer facilities, characterized by different operations, treatment processes, and plant configurations. In these sites, GHGs data will be collected using multiple measuring and monitoring techniques conducted at different scales, namely: with aircraft sensors operated at 3,000 m elevation for large-scale CH4 observations, with drones equipped with state-of-the-art sensors for WRRFs and sewer-scale CH4, CO2 and N2O observations, and with fixed sensors for their more local quantification. Collected data will be longitudinally integrated using machine-learning and AI-driven data fusion techniques, together with deterministic models for wastewater and sewer systems. In addition, deterministic models will be used in conjunction with pilots, operated in the state-of-the-art research and development (R&D) facilities of Greenway WRRF located in London Ontario, already equipped with advanced pilot systems able to simulate, in sequencing batch mode, several WRRF configurations and sewer conditions. Pilot experiments will be used to calibrate the mechanistic GHG models, which will be further verified against multi-scale data obtained with aircraft and drone sensors. Finally, the GHG-validated process models will be used to explore the most resilient sewer/WRRFs integration strategies, with the goal of identifying holistic solutions for climate-friendly WRRFs in Canada.The proposed study will be conducted highly collaboratively with North American WRRFs including Toronto, London, Calgary, Windsor and Detroit, highly specialized industries including USP Technologies, GHGSat, and Brown and Caldwell. The industry partnership will ensure the work is conducted according to state-of-the-art methods by providing in-kind contribution and actively participating to the site activities proposed in this project. Moreover, advanced training opportunities will be offered throughout this project in emerging technical fields including sewer process analysis, bioprocess simulations, data fusion and data analytics, model-based plant optimization, wastewater pilot operations and innovative wastewater treatment processes.