A Study on Applying Biomass Fraction for Greenhouse Gases Emission Estimation of a Sewage Sludge Incinerator in Korea: A Case Study

Seongmin Kang, Seungjin Kim, Jeongwoo Lee, Youngjae Jeon, Ki-Hyun Kim and Eui-chan Jeon
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Seongmin Kang: Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea
Seungjin Kim: Cooperate Course for Climate Change, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea
Jeongwoo Lee: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea
Youngjae Jeon: Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea
Ki-Hyun Kim: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Eui-chan Jeon: Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-7

Abstract: According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) guidelines, when calculating CO 2 emissions, CO 2 emissions from biomass should be excluded from the total amount of CO 2 emissions and should be separately reported due to their “carbon neutrality”. Sewage sludge is one of the representative biomass fuels. It is mixed with fossil fuels to achieve greenhouse gas reduction or is used by itself as a fuel to replace fossil fuels. According to the results of this study, biomass fractions of both the sewage sludge and the sewage sludge incineration exhaust gases did not amount to 100%. At present, in many countries (South Korea, Japan, and Germany), when calculating greenhouse gas emissions from sewage sludge incinerators, all CO 2 emissions from sewage sludge are judged to be biomass and only the greenhouse gas emissions that correspond to non-CO 2 gases are calculated as greenhouse gas emissions. However, since, according our results, the content of sewage sludge is not 100% biomass, if CO 2 emissions are excluded according to the existing greenhouse gas emission calculation method, the amount of emissions may be underestimated. Therefore, to accurately calculate greenhouse gas emissions from a sewage sludge incinerator, CO 2 emissions should be calculated in consideration of the fossil carbon fractions of sewage sludge.

Keywords: sewage sludge; biomass fraction; sewage sludge incinerator; GHG emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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