Determination of greenhouse gas emissions by carbon flow analysis of household sanitation practices | |
| Author | Chanutsakul Supirak |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-10-02 |
| Subject(s) | Greenhouse gases mitigation--Thailand--Nonthaburi Greenhouse gases--Thailand--Nonthaburi Sanitation, Household--Thailand--Nonthaburi |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This research focuses on greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) from sanitation practices by using material flow analysis (MFA) in determination of carbon flows in a household. Based on MFA results and scenario analysis, a mitigation measure was suggested in reducing GHG emission. Pakkret municipality, Nonthaburi, Thailand was selected as a study area where the city is rapidly expanding especially for residential area. CO₂ and CH₄ were chosen as GHG emitted from onsite wastewater treatment process. Three major activities which generated greywater were also considered. This MFA application defined the system boundary as household sanitation which included five processes: kitchen and human body, bathroom and toilet, laundry, solid waste container, and onsite treatment. The carbon flows were determined through the balancing of inflows and outflows of each process in the system boundary. The results from MFA illustrated that the largest carbon flow is solid waste transport to landfill. However, onsite wastewater treatment was the most significant unit in term of GHG emission. Carbon emission from onsite wastewater treatment systems was identified as pre-fabricated septic tank, single compartment septic tank and double compartment septic tank. The average carbon emission from onsite wastewater treatment system released to the atmosphere is 0.1 ± 0.06 kg C per capita per year. Carbon emission from onsite treatment of the whole community (100,548 households) for 20 years time horizon is around 2,414 ton CO₂-eq per year. Comparison of actual measurement and IPCC guidelines estimation presented that the IPCC estimated value was lower than actual measurement likely because there are many factors such as temperature, pH and characteristics of household activities which are not taken into consideration. Adding flaring unit and recovering the generated biogas as fuel for cooking was mentioned as the proposed mitigation because percentage of CH₄ is about 45-70% which is combustible. Emissions of CO₂-eq could be reduced by 10 times as compared with the current situation. Another promising mitigation is centralized collection which could reduce pollutant loads to the environment and gas products from the communal septic tank could be recovered by wider applications. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Thammarat Koottatep; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh;Vilas Nitivattananon; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | RTG Fellowship;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2010 |