Photoacoustic Spectroscopy for the Quantification of N2O in the Off-Gas of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Different configurations of photoacoustic (PA) setups for the online-measurement of gaseous N2O, employing semiconductor lasers at 2.9 and 4.5 μm, were developed and tested. Their performance was assessed with respect to the analysis of N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants. For this purpose, the local N2O emissions of a wastewater treatment bioreactor was sampled by a dedicated mobile sampling device, and the total N2O emissions were analyzed in the gastight headspace of the bioreactor. We found that the use of a quantum-cascade laser emitting at about 4.53 μm, operated in a wavelength modulation mode, in combination with a conventional longitudinal PA cell yielded the highest sensitivity (