Decarbonisation of all sectors of the economy is required if humanity will meet the Paris Agreement. Emissions from the electricity sector have fallen considerably in the past 10 years, however, other sectors of the economy have not been able to keep pace due to their reliance on natural gas. Wastewater treatment plants are in a unique position to help these sectors as they are able to generate renewable biogas which can be used as a substitute for natural gas. Currently, some wastewater treatment plants burn their biogas to meet onsite energy requirements; however, there is growing scepticism in the industry as to whether this is the most effective use of this resource. The current study investigates whether it would be economically and environmentally beneficial for these wastewater treatment plants to sell their biogas and generate energy through other means. To this end a case study assessment of a plant in Adelaide, South Australia was undertaken. Results showed that all studied cases resulted in significant economic and environmental gains over the traditional biogas-only system, suggesting that there is considerable potential for future changes to the way wastewater treatment plant are operated to realise their full potential as urban resource recovery facilities.

如果人类符合《巴黎协定》，就必须对经济的所有部门进行脱碳。在过去的十年中，电力部门的排放量已大大减少，但是，经济的其他部门由于对天然气的依赖而无法跟上步伐。废水处理厂具有独特的优势，可以帮助这些行业，因为它们能够产生可再生的沼气，可以用作天然气的替代品。目前，一些废水处理厂燃烧其沼气以满足现场能源需求。但是，对于这种资源是否是最有效的利用方法，业界越来越怀疑。当前的研究调查了这些废水处理厂出售其沼气并通过其他方式产生能源是否在经济和环境方面都是有利的。为此，对南澳大利亚州阿德莱德的一家工厂进行了案例研究评估。结果表明，所有研究案例均比传统的仅沼气系统带来了显着的经济和环境收益，表明未来有很大的潜力改变污水处理厂的运营方式，以充分发挥其作为城市资源回收设施的潜力。