Effect of climate change in WWTPs with a focus on MBR infrastructure

AbstractClimate change is expected to be one of the main challenges for urban wastewater systems in the next decades, and it is estimated that it will have a dual effect on wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The processes occurring in a WWTP are affected by climate change; more extreme weather events and earlier snowmelt runoff will lead to more untreated sewer overflows, increased flooding, etc. On the other hand, wastewater treatment contribute to climate change itself, as during wastewater treatment greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2) from aerobic (oxidation processes), methane (CH4) from anaerobic processes and nitrous oxide (N2O) associated with nitrification/denitrification processes, can be emitted to the atmosphere. MBR is currently considered a rather mature technology (not innovative) with several full-scale applications; N2O is also produced during the nitritation process (i.e. ammonium oxidation to nitrite). Moreover, the microbial communities developed in MBRs are exposed to co...