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Hydrogen sulfide generation and emission in urban sanitary sewer in China:

What factor plays the critical role?

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DOI: 10.1039/C8EW00617B

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Hydrogen sulfide generation and emission in

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Cite this: DOI: 10.1039/c8ew00617b

urban sanitary sewer in China: what factor plays
the critical role?†
Zhiqiang Zuo, a Jian Chang,d Zhengsheng Lu,a Moran Wang,a Yucong Lin,b
Min Zheng, ae David Z. Zhu,c Tong Yu,c Xia Huang a and Yanchen Liu *a

Received 4th September 2018,
Accepted 15th March 2019
DOI: 10.1039/c8ew00617b
rsc.li/es-water
Identifying hydrogen sulfide (H2S) hotspots is critical for preventing/controlling odor and corrosion prob-
lems in sewer systems. However, relatively little is known regarding H2S hotspots and variation characteris-
tics in China's urban sewer networks. A comprehensive field investigation was carried out on the impacts
of sewer structures, season, water flow and wastewater quality on H2S emission. The results indicated that
H2S diurnal variation mainly followed the dry weather flow fluctuation in gravity sewer networks. The man-
hole downstream of septic tanks was identified as a H2S emission hotspot due to potential significant sul-
fide generation in the septic tanks. The effect of temperature on H2S emission was related to variations in
the sulfide production rate and flow turbulence at different locations in the sewer system. Significant re-
duction in sulfide concentration was observed with rainfall-derived high water flow rate. The local water
quality was identified as a key factor for sulfide generation from different sites along the sewer system.
These findings are useful in understanding and predicting H2S emission in China's sewer systems.

Water impact
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) generated in the sanitary sewer system is harmful to public health and the environment, yet little is known about H2S emission
characteristics in China's urban sewer network. In the study, a comprehensive field investigation, including impacts of sewer structure, temperature, water
flow and wastewater quality was carried out. The findings of this study will be useful in understanding H2S emission in China's sewer systems.

1. Introduction
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) generated in sanitary sewer systems
is harmful to public health and the environment due to its
corrosive effect, odour nuisance and toxicity. Sewer corrosion
is caused by sulfuric acid (H2SO4) oxidized from H2S
adsorbed on moisture pipe walls, which creates significant
challenges to infrastructure management,1 e.g., the US na-
tional sewer rehabilitation was estimated to cost $3.2 billion
a
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control,
School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
E-mail: liuyc@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn; Tel: +86 10 62796953
b
Center for Statistical Science and Department of Industrial Engineering,
Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
c
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB,
T6G 2W2 Canada
d
Beijing Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, Beijing, 100082,
China
e
Advanced Water Management Centre, the University of Queensland, QLD,
Australia
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/
c8ew00617b
in 2009.2 On the other hand, H2S is toxic to humans and seri-
ously endangers sewage workers' lives3 and has a significant
adverse impact on nearby residents.4
Sewer development in China has received more attention
in recent years, e.g., the investment in sewer construction
reached $36.7 billion, accounting for more than 50% of the
total investment in the infrastructure construction program
of municipal wastewater treatment, reclamation, and reuse
during the period of 2010–2015.5 More than 75% of the Chi-
nese sewer systems was constructed in the past 20 years.6
However, more and more young sewer pipelines are likely fac-
ing the risk of H2S-related pipe damage. Hvitved-Jacobsen
et al.7 reported that a sulfide concentration within the range
of 0.1–0.5 mg S L−1 triggers minor problems of concrete cor-
rosion, while sulfide concentrations higher than 2.0 mg S L−1
result in severe concrete corrosion. It has been reported that
the lifespan of a sewer pipe can be significantly shortened
due to concrete corrosion rate ranging between 1.1–10 mm
per year.8 Thus, it is imperative to conduct H2S prevention
strategies immediately in the H2S hotspot in order to prolong
sewer pipe lifetime. Unfortunately, the H2S hotspot is largely

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol.

Paper
unidentifiable in sewer systems, which has caused many H2S
poisoning incidents over the past years in China.9 In order to
minimise sewer corrosion and reduce health risk, it is impor-
tant to understand the characteristics of H2S variation in the
sewer system.
Extensive studies aiming for H2S prediction and control in
sewer networks have been done over the past years in some
developed countries.8,10–13 The understanding of sewer pro-
cesses and mechanisms has been improved in China, but the
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management and maintenance of the sewer system is less de-
veloped due to lack of applicability and experiences.9 While
septic tanks commonly serve as terminal treatment facilities
in many places, in China, septic tanks are ubiquitous in ur-
ban neighbourhoods. It normally takes the function of anaer-
obic digestion of wastewater treatment before discharging
into main pipe,14 yet little remains known about the impact
of septic tank on H2S generation and emission. Overall, the
complex and particular sewer characteristics in China would
significantly increase the difficulty of identifying H2S
hotspots in the sewer network.
The sewer network in China requires improvement in its
overall performance as soon as possible. For that reason, rele-
vant studies about sewer networks have been focused on sev-
eral sewer problems such as illicit connection,15–17 water in-
filtration18,19 or pipe rehabilitation technologies.20–22
However, very few studies have been done to assess the H2S
problem in China's sewer network, which has been largely
neglected by authorities and the general public. The main ob-
jective of this paper is to reveal the critical role in H2S gener-
Fig. 1 Map of the studied sanitary sewer system. Map (a) included a pressure main connecting with a gravity sewer system, map (b) showed a gravity
system and map (c and d) showed two pressure mains, respectively. These four sewer systems were separated and connected to different WWTPs.
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ation and emission of a typical urban sewer system in China.
A comprehensive sewer investigation was conducted in Yixing
city in south-east China, which included the impacts of sewer
structure, season, water flow and wastewater quality on H2S
emission. The findings of this study will be useful in under-
standing H2S emission in China's sewer systems.
2. Materials and methods
2.1 Field sewer description
The field study was conducted in four typical regionally sepa-
rated sewer systems, which were located in a Yixing city,
Jiangsu province. As shown in Fig. 1, sewer system (a)
contained a pressure main #1a to #1 connected to a gravity
main #1 to #7. The gravity trunk line was 2.8 km long and
had 7 manholes, of which #3, #5 and #7 manholes connected
with lateral pipes collecting sewage from nearby neighbor-
hoods (area 1, 2 and 3). In these neighborhoods, septic tanks
such as #3c and #5c were used in sewer systems for treating
wastewater before discharging sewage into the main pipe.
The size of the septic tank was approx. 2.5 m (L) × 1.8 m (W)
× 1.1 m (H), and its retention time was about 1 hour. The di-
ameters of the sewer gravity pipe line and branch pipe line
were 800 mm and 300 mm, respectively. Sewer system (b)
showed the other gravity sewer system (#8–#10), which
connected with two lateral pipes. These two sewer systems (a)
and (b) were separated and connected to different sewage
treatment plants. In the meantime, H2S measurement was
also conducted in the selected two other pressure main
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systems (c) and (d). The detailed information regarding pipe
diameter, length, slope, pipe material and water flow are
shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2.
2.2 Field program
2.4 Data statistical analysis
In order to analyze the relationship between wastewater qual-
ity and sulfide generation, the linear regression is a useful
method to reveal relationships between explanatory variables
and the response variable. The formula is:

A field survey of H2S distribution in various sewer parts was y = β0 + β1X1 + β2X2 + β3X3 + ⋯βKXK (1)
conducted first. The gaseous H2S was measured with the
OdaLog® H2S gas sensors (Modal OdaLog type L2, manufac- where y is the sulfide concentration and X is the explanatory
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ture) in all the manholes of four sewers. The H2S gas sensors variable, including sulfate, COD, velocity, conductivity, pH
were installed 1 m under the manhole cover and automati- and ORP in the study. β0 is the intercept term and βi is the
cally collected and stored data at 5 min intervals for at least linear slope of Xi, which are the estimated parameters in the
24 consecutive hours. regression equation.
Further, the impacts of several important factors, includ- A stepwise regression is used to select explanatory variables
ing sewer structure, temperature, water flow and wastewater based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC). The selected
quality, on H2S generation and emission were evaluated (seen variables are shown to be significantly helpful for decreasing
in Table 2). H2S and water quality measurement along a pipe- the AIC based on bidirectional elimination, which will better
line with a septic tank was carried out in a gravity sewer sys- fit the data when the selected variables are relatively small.
tem. The H2S diurnal variation was monitored along two Further, multi-collinearity, which means that the independent
pipelines (#3a–#3 and #5a–#5) with septic tanks in different assumption in the regression model is broken with two explan-
seasons. Wastewater samples were collected from these man- atory variables showing strong correlation, is generally
holes using a 5 L bucket and immediately transported to the concerned in linear regression models. The variance inflation
laboratory for chemical analysis. Further, the effect of water factor (VIF) is calculated to verify whether there is multi-
flow on H2S emission was investigated in the #3a and #7 collinearity between variables. The VIF of Xi equals:
manhole and H2S in the manhole was detected. A rain gauge
was installed for monitoring rainfall in the field. Finally, the 1
VIFi  (2)
long-term effect of wastewater quality on H2S and sulfides 1  Ri 2
was investigated. The study selected #8a and #9a manholes
in the sewer system (b) to conduct H2S and water quality where Ri2 equals the coefficient of determination of the regres-
measurement for 10 days. H2S was detected and wastewater sions. The explained variable (y) is Xi and explanatory variables
samples were collected from these two manholes every two are X1, X2…Xi−1, Xi+1…Xp. With VIFi higher than 10, Xi has sig-
hours and analyzed in the laboratory. Wastewater velocity, nificant multi-collinearity with other explanatory variables.
pH, electrical conductivity and ORP were measured using pH
gauge (Mettler FE20), ORP gauge (LE501) and electrical con-
ductivity gauge (FE 30 K). 3. Results and discussion
3.1 H2S distribution in typical structure units along the
2.3 Chemical analysis sewer-shed
Measurement of COD, sCOD, sulfate, sulfide, ammonium The H2S concentrations at different sewer locations are
and phosphate concentration were performed in accordance shown in Fig. 3. It was clear that two H2S hotspots could
with standard methods.23 Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were ana- be identified, consisting of the outlet of the pressure mains
lyzed using Agilent 6890N gas chromatograph (GC). (#1, #11 and #12) and the downstream manholes (#3, #5
and #7) of the septic tanks in the neighborhoods, where
the concentration of H2S could reach up to 100–400 ppm.
Table 1 The parameters of sewer pipes in the field experiment
It was no surprise that the outlets of the pressure mains
Pipe Length Diameter Slope Flow Pipe were the H2S hotspots in sewers because it was well known
number (m) (m) (m m−1) (m s−1) material that the biofilm in the pressure main was the source of
Pressure main pipe sulfide production.24 In this study, the manholes down-
1a–1 1000 0.5 −0.004 0–0.35 Ductile iron stream of the septic tanks were first found to be H2S
11a–11 5500 0.4 −0.001 0–0.5 Ductile iron hotspots. Most of the other sewer manholes were not sig-
12a–12 1000 0.5 −0.003 0.6–1.8 Ductile iron
Gravity main pipe nificant sources for H2S emission in the sewer system.
1–7 2450 0.8 0.001 0.1–0.3 Concrete However, a relatively high H2S concentration was found at
8–10 600 0.8 0.001 0.1–0.3 Concrete some manholes along the branch pipe, such as #9a. The
Gravity branch pipe
reason was probably due to the variation of wastewater
3a–3 47 0.3 0.001 0–0.15 PVC-U
5a–5 40 0.3 0.001 0–0.15 PVC-U quality characteristics, such as COD, sulfate concentration,
b1–5b 28 0.3 0.001 0–0.15 PVC-U ORP, DO, conductivity, velocity and so on.

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Fig. 2 Side view of the studied sewer trunk; not to scale and pipe slope not reflected.

3.2 H2S variation along pipes with septic tanks in residential
areas
The variation of H2S along pipes with septic tanks in residential
areas was investigated. Fig. 4(a) and (b) show the H2S variation
along the sewer pipeline #3a to #3 and #5a to #5 in different
seasons. Fig. 4(a) shows that H2S concentration in the #3 man-
hole was the highest while H2S concentration in the septic tank
#3c was the lowest, and H2S concentration in the upstream
manhole #3a was lower than that in manhole #3b (#3 > #3b >
#3a > #3c). Similar variation was observed in Fig. 4(b) (#5 >

Table 2 Overview of test scenarios in the fieldwork

Scenarios Manhole Season & weather

Measurement of gaseous H2S All manholes July & dry day
(1) H2S variation along pipe with septic tank in residential area 3a, 3b, 3c, 3, July, Oct, Dec & dry day
5a, 5b, 5c, 5
(2) Effect of water flow on H2S generation and emission 3a, 7 Sept & dry and rain day
(3) Effect of water quality on H2S generation 8a, 9a May & dry and rain day

Fig. 3 Gaseous H2S concentration at different sewer locations. The symbol “–” means the H2S maximum and minimum value; “×” means the H2S
99% and 1% value and “ϒ” means the H2S mean value.

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#5b > #5a > #5c). This indicated that H2S concentration in
sewers displayed significant spatial variation.
Water quality variation in these manholes is presented in
Fig. 4(c). The results showed that sulfide was generated
within 3 mg S L−1 in the septic tanks (#3c or #5c). Simulta-
neously, COD concentration was decreased by approximately
100 mg COD per L, whereas soluble COD and VFA appeared
to increase. This indicated that the septic tank played a criti-
cal role in the biochemical process of the sulfur cycle. In
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stream of the septic tank, where drop structures commonly
existed. As a result of the high turbulence in the drop struc-
tures, H2S in the liquid phase was released to the gas
phase.25 Therefore, the manholes downstream of septic tanks
were considered to be important H2S emission sources.
3.3 Effect of temperature on H2S emission
The effect of temperature on H2S concentration in different

spite of the high sulfide production in septic tanks, H2S was
difficult to release from wastewater to the atmosphere due to
the observed supernatant scum, which increased the diffi-
culty of air–water mass transfer. However, sulfide produced
in septic tanks would be transported to the manhole down-
manholes was further evaluated. The sewer temperature was
measured, which was not affected significantly by the atmo-
spheric temperature variation over the course of a day. As
shown in Fig. 5, H2S concentration would reach a higher level
at a higher temperature in these manholes. However,

Fig. 4 The data of hydrogen sulfide in the area 1 (#3a, #3b, #3c and #3) and area 2 (#5a, #5b, #5c and #5) in different seasons (a) and (b),
respectively, and concentrations of water quality in three connected manholes in these two areas (c). Manhole #3b and #5b were the upstream
manholes of septic tanks while manholes #3 and #5 were the manholes downstream of septic tank.

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Table 3 The parameters summarized from the data in the #9a manhole

Dry weather Rainfall

Std. Std.
Parameter Mean Dve. Max. Mean Dve. Max.
H2S (ppm) 19.8 10.0 47.0 1.2 2.2 8.0
Water level (cm) 5.6 1.5 11.2 61.6 18.8 87.6
Water flow (cm s−1) 3.68 3 14 0.15 3.4 3.8
Sulfide (mg S L−1) 1.5 1.6 5.2 0.8 0.5 1.5
Sulfate (mg S L−1) 13.4 4.2 25.7 14.5 4.0 21.2
COD (mg L−1) 355.6 137.4 766.0 326.6 246.4 785.6
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Conductivity 1875 429 1875 3333 623 4655

pH 6.6 0.2 7.0 6.2 0.6 6.9
ORP 17.2 9.9 42.0 28.5 13.7 50.0

icantly by temperature. Meanwhile, the drop structure in the

Fig. 5 Effect of temperature on H2S emission in the manhole (#3a,
#3b, #5a and #5b) upstream and manhole (#3 and #5) downstream of
septic tank.
influences of temperature on H2S in the downstream man-
holes (#3b and #3) were more serious than those on H2S in
the upstream manhole (#3a). This indicated that the sulfide
production rate in septic tanks would be affected more signif-
manhole downstream of the septic tank would cause a
greater temperature effect on sulfide emission. The effect of
temperature on H2S emission was associated with the varia-
tions in the sulfide production rate and flow turbulence at
different locations in the sewer system.
3.4 Effect of water flow on H2S variation
The long-term H2S monitoring data in the manhole down-
stream of the septic tank (#7) and branch manhole (#3a) are
shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b), respectively. H2S increased from
8:00 AM, reached a peak (approximately 10 ppm) at 4:00 PM
and then decreased to 0 ppm at 10:00 PM during 5th–7th Au-
gust in the branch manhole (#3a). On the other hand, in the

Fig. 6 Long-term H2S monitoring data in the manholes #3 and #7. The water level in the #7 manhole is presented.

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Fig. 7 Comparison of the long-term H2S and water quality data in the manholes #8a and #9a. The liquid pollutants include sulfide, COD, sulfate,
water flow, Cond., pH and ORP.

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Paper
manhole downstream of the septic tank (#7), H2S concentra-
tion had two peaks with one at 7:00–9:00 AM and one at
7:00–12:00 PM. However, the actual H2S peak concentration
had not been detected due to the detection limit of the H2S
gas (0–320 ppm). Guo et al.25 reported that only one peak
appeared at midnight. This indicated that H2S concentration
displayed local temporal variation features in different sewer
locations. It was observed from the water level in the #7 man-
hole that the water level had two peaks at 7:00 am and 8:00
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pm, which correlated with H2S peaks. Indeed, a low water
level could significantly accelerate accumulation of the pro-
duced sulfide in the septic tanks. With water flow increasing
in the morning and evening, the high turbulence when
wastewater fell from the branch pipe to the main pipe would
result in significant sulfide release from liquid to gas. These
results revealed the key role of water flow on H2S diurnal
change. Low flow enhances sulfide accumulation and high
flow enhances H2S emission.
During heavy rainfall, H2S concentration would be obvi-
ously reduced, such as 7th August in the #3a manhole or
13th September in the #7 manhole. The sulfide concentration
was consistently low in the next few dry-weather days after a
rainfall event. Further, the effect of rainfall on H2S concentra-
tion, water quality and water level was analyzed based on
long-term measurement in the #9 manhole (shown in
Table 3). The increase in the water level could reduce the sul-
fide production rate, which was associated with the low sul-
fide concentration. Also, the increase in the water level could
significantly reduce the turbulence of dropping flow from the
connected upstream pipe in the manhole. Moreover, the
sewer sediment was the important source for sulfide genera-
tion,26,27 which was probably eroded by the rainfall-related
sharp flow. These could mitigate H2S production and emis-
sion from the sewer system during the rainfall event.
3.5 Effect of water quality on H2S generation
The variations in long-term measurement of gaseous H2S
along with the water quality parameters like sulfide level,
COD, sulfate level, water flow, pH, conductivity, ORP and gas-
eous H2S between the #8a and #9a manholes are shown in
Fig. 7. The H2S concentration in the #9a manhole was higher
than that in the #8a manhole. Simultaneously, the sulfide
level, COD and conductivity were higher but water flow, pH
and ORP were lower in the #9a manhole than those in the
#8a manhole. These results were consistent with the general
understanding of the sulfide-production process in sewers.
High concentrations of COD would contribute to higher sul-
fide production rates while the sulfate would not limit sulfide
formation if it was higher than 5–15 g S m−3.28 Low velocity
would also result in a greater deposition of sediments and
longer water residence time, which would enhance the sul-
fide production.29 Recently, an empirical equation was devel-
oped to describe the long-term effect of sulfates and COD
on the maximum sulfide production activity.30 Based on this
equation, the maximum sulfide production activity values in
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Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
manhole #8a and #9a were calculated to be 2.72 and 2.64 g S
m−2 per day), respectively. These similar results indicated
that the difference in the sulfide concentration between these
two manholes was not determined by the maximum sulfide
production activity (Fig. 7).
The step-wise regression mechanism and VIF test were
used to pick up important variables and detect multi-collin-
earity, and explain sulfides in the full variable regression
model. The results are shown in Table S1.† Sulfides had sta-
tistically significant relationships with COD (P = 1.19 × 10−3),
conductivity (P = 1.34 × 10−4) and velocity (P = −7.21 × 10−3)
while other factors were deleted by step-wise processing. The
VIP scores were lower than 2, indicating that multi-
collinearity was not significant in the model. According to the
above results, it could be concluded that sulfide production
would increase as velocity decreased or COD and conductivity
increased. These findings were helpful for identifying the H2S
level in sewers because COD, conductivity, and velocity can be
measured easily, which provides a potential cost-effective ap-
proach to understand risks due to H2S in sewers.
3.6 Critical impact of septic tanks on carbon loss in sewer
systems
Septic tanks in the neighborhoods played a critical role on
sulfide production in sewer networks, which is higher than
the limit value (2.0 mg S L−1) that causes severe concrete cor-
rosion.7 Moreover, COD concentration was reduced by ap-
proximately 10–20% in the septic tank but sCOD and VFAs
had an increase due to anaerobic digestion reactions (Fig. 4).
In China, carbon loss during sewage transport in sewers has
become a serious problem, which results in the COD concen-
trations of WWTP influent to be lower than 300 mg L−1. Some
studies31,32 also reported that the septic tank was considered
to be an important source for the decrease in COD, which
resulted in low carbon resources in the downstream wastewa-
ter treatment plant. This study demonstrated the critical role
of septic tanks in carbon loss and sulfide production. How-
ever, very limited studies have investigated how to reduce the
loss of carbon sources and the sulfide production in septic
tanks. Therefore, control strategies still need to be effectively
developed to achieve H2S control and carbon maintenance in
sewers with septic tanks.
4. Conclusions
In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation
on hydrogen sulfide production and emission in sewer sys-
tems in China. H2S spatial distribution was determined by
sewer structures and wastewater quality in the local sites of
the sewer-shed. The manholes downstream of septic tanks in
neighborhoods were identified as H2S emission hotspots due
to the potential significant sulfide generation in the septic
tank. H2S concentration was positively correlated with sulfide
concentration, COD and conductivity and negatively corre-
lated with water flow. The effect of temperature on H2S emis-
sion was also associated with variations in the sulfide
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
production rate and flow turbulence at different locations in
the local sewer system. A significant decrease in the sulfide
concentration was observed with rainfall-derived high water
flow. This study will be useful in understanding H2S produc-
tion and emission in sewer systems in China. Further work is
needed to develop technologies for sulfide control and car-
bon maintenance in sewer systems.
Conflicts of interest
Published on 22 March 2019. Downloaded by University of Queensland on 4/4/2019 7:46:37 AM.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51678337) and Major Science and
Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treat-
ment of China (No. 2014ZX07305001) and the Tsinghua Univer-
sity Initiative Scientific Research Program (No. 2017z21028).
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