title: Nitrous oxide and methane emissions and nitrous oxide isotopic composition from waste incineration in Switzerland.
abstract: Solid waste incineration accounts for a growing proportion of waste disposal in both developed and developing countries, therefore it is important to constrain emissions of greenhouse gases from these facilities. At five Swiss waste incineration facilities with grate firing, emission factors for N2O and CH4 were determined based on measurements of representative flue gas samples, which were collected in Tedlar bags over a one year period (September 2010-August 2011) and analysed with FTIR spectroscopy. All five plants burn a mixture of household and industrial waste, and two of the plants employ NOx removal through selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) while three plants use selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NOx removal. N2O emissions from incineration plants with NOx removal through selective catalytic reduction were 4.3 ± 4.0g N2O tonne(-1) waste (wet) (hereafter abbreviated as t(-1)) (0.4 ± 0.4 g N2O GJ(-1)), ten times lower than from plants with selective non-catalytic reduction (51.5 ± 10.6g N2O t(-1); 4.5 ± 0.9g N2O GJ(-1)). These emission factors, which are much lower than the value of 120g N2O t(-1) (10.4g N2O GJ(-1)) used in the 2013 Swiss national greenhouse gas emission inventory, have been implemented in the most recent Swiss emission inventory. In addition, the isotopic composition of N2O emitted from the two plants with SNCR, which had considerable N2O emissions, was measured using quantum cascade laser spectroscopy. The isotopic site preference of N2O - the enrichment of (14)N(15)NO relative to (15)N(14)NO - was found to be 17.6 ± 0.8‰, with no significant difference between the two plants. Comparison to previous studies suggests SP of 17-19‰ may be characteristic for N2O produced from SNCR. Methane emissions were found to be insignificant, with a maximum emission factor of 2.5 ± 5.6g CH4 t(-1) (0.2 ± 0.5g CH4 GJ(-1)), which is expected due to high incinerator temperatures and efficient combustion.
authors.affiliation: Empa, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland. Electronic address: eliza.harris@empa.ch.
authors.forename: Eliza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Empa, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zeyer
authors.affiliation: FOEN, Federal Office for the Environment, Air Pollution Control and Chemicals, CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kegel
authors.affiliation: FOEN, Federal Office for the Environment, Air Pollution Control and Chemicals, CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Empa, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Emmenegger
authors.affiliation: Empa, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mohn
mesh_terms: D017745:Incineration / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008697:Methane / Q000032:analysis; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000032:analysis*; D062611:Solid Waste; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D062611:Solid Waste; D009609:Nitrous Oxide; D008697:Methane
keywords: Emission factor; Greenhouse gas; Isotopic composition; Nitrous oxide; Waste incineration; deNO(x) technology