Emission Factor (EF) Calculation

Emission factor definition

The emission factor (EF) is expressed as the percentage of influent total nitrogen emitted as \(\mathrm{N_2O\text{-}N}\) over the evaluation period.

For a time series with time step \(\Delta t\) in days, the EF is calculated as:

\[EF_{N_2O} = 100 \frac{ \sum_{n} E_{N_2O,tot,n}\,\Delta t }{ \sum_{n} \left( \frac{Q_{in,n}\,TN_{in,n}}{1000} \right)\Delta t }\]

where:

  • \(E_{N_2O,tot,n}\) is the total emitted N₂O mass rate at time step \(n\), in \(\mathrm{kg \; N \; d^{-1}}\),

  • \(Q_{in,n}\) is the influent flow rate at time step \(n\), in \(\mathrm{m^3 \; d^{-1}}\),

  • \(TN_{in,n}\) is the influent total nitrogen concentration at time step \(n\), in \(\mathrm{g \; N \; m^{-3}}\),

  • \(\Delta t\) is the time step in days.