Selecting municipal wastewater treatment technologies for greenhouse gas emissions reduction : the case of Mexico for year 2030

The proper selection of treatment technologies may be an important opportunity for contributing to the reduction goals of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Based on actual Mexican infrastructure data, the scenarios analyzed in this work show that the emission reduction from sewage treatment in Mexico could be as high as 34% if compared to the baseline scenario, depending on the treatment technologies. The results show that the anaerobic and aerobic scenario (AN+A) is a better option if compared to the full aerobic one (A), as it reduces in 4% the GHG emissions for year 2030. Moreover, if methane is used for in situ electricity cogeneration in larger facilities, the reduction reaches 27%. The results obtained may be helpful for policy and decision makers in evaluating cost effectiveness and feasibility of possible GHG mitigation strategies for wastewater treatment facilities, mainly for new infrastructure in developing countries.