Using robotic and autonomous systems to monitor methane emissions in sludge treatment centres: POSTER
Hiniduma Gamage, K.A., Rivas Casado, M. and Bajón Fernández, Y., Cranfield University, UK
(free)
Introduction
➢ In the UK, the water sector is responsible for one third of the UK’s industrial waste process emissions. With the increasing trend in the global average temperature, the UK’s water industry has committed to achieve net zero by 2030 and part of this includes cutting 4 emissions from sludge treatment facilities.
➢ As a result, of this companies which operate wastewater treatment plants are focusing on developing GHG emission monitoring and quantifying strategies and 4 is key contributor to GHG emission in sludge treatment. Currently, emissions are estimated by following IPCC guidelines and using IPCC default emission factors. However, this method might not be a true representation of emissions as these vary depending on many factors, such as environmental and operational conditions. Especially for open assets (secondary digesters, cake
pad), 4 quantification can be more difficult due to high spatial-temporal variability.
➢ The use of ground-based sensors for monitoring with high spatial resolution is frequently not cost effective. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has proved cost effective for a varied range of high spatial resolution environmental monitoring tasks.
➢ Within the context of 4 emissions and in the last decade, the technology has been curtailed by sensor weight and size. Recent advances in sensor technology have enabled the development of a fit-for purpose UAV 4 sensor (U10) which uses Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). This study intends to develop a framework for 4 data collection strategies from sludge treatment centres using UAV-U10 technology.
