Causal drivers of wastewater treatment emissions. (IMAGE)
Caption
Causal drivers of wastewater treatment emissions. This graphical summary illustrates the study’s integrated framework for identifying the causal drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The analysis first accounts for major emission sources, including direct process emissions, chemical production, electricity consumption, sludge disposal, wastewater flow, and treated discharge. It then combines input feature variables, interpretable machine learning, Shapley additive explanations (SHAP), and causal-effect estimation to identify key drivers of total greenhouse gas emission intensity (GEI). The results highlight ammonia nitrogen removal as a major driver of WWTP-related GHG emissions, while showing that power-grid decarbonization can provide an effective mitigation pathway and help balance local water-quality improvement with global climate goals.
Credit
Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
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License
CC BY-NC-ND