title: Validation of an analytical method for simultaneous high-precision measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants using a gas chromatography-barrier discharge detector system.
abstract: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) emit CO2and N2O, which may lead to climate change and global warming. Over the last few years, awareness of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from WWTPs has increased. Moreover, the development of valid, reliable, and high-throughput analytical methods for simultaneous gas analysis is an essential requirement for environmental applications. In the present study, an analytical method based on a gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with a barrier ionization discharge (BID) detector was developed for the first time. This new method simultaneously analyses CO2and N2O and has a precision, measured in terms of relative standard of variation RSD%, equal to or less than 6.6% and 5.1%, respectively. The method's detection limits are 5.3ppmvfor CO2and 62.0ppbvfor N2O. The method's selectivity, linearity, accuracy, repeatability, intermediate precision, limit of detection and limit of quantification were good at trace concentration levels. After validation, the method was applied to a real case of N2O and CO2emissions from a WWTP, confirming its suitability as a standard procedure for simultaneous GHG analysis in environmental samples containing CO2levels less than 12,000mg/L.
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pascale
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caivano
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buchicchio
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Ignazio M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Mancini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy. Electronic address: giuliana.bianco@unibas.it.
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bianco
authors.affiliation: Scuola di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy. Electronic address: donatella.caniani@unibas.it.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caniani
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D057231:Climate Change; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009609:Nitrous Oxide; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Barrier ionization discharge (BID); Carbon dioxide (CO(2)); Gas chromatography (GC); Greenhouse gas (GHG); Method validation; Nitrous oxide (N(2)O)