Emissions of organic compounds from produced water ponds II: Evaluation of flux chamber measurements with inverse-modeling techniques

Tran, H.; Lyman, Seth; Mansfield, Marc L.; O’Neil, Trevor; Bowers, R.L.; Smith, Alexander Thomas T.; Keslar, Cara

doi:10.1080/10962247.2018.1426654

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…1 Hence, the discrepancy in the results is likely due to the flux measurement methodology. 67 Suncor uses flux chamber estimates to measure their fluxes, and as discussed previously, these methods are prone to have large uncertainty in estimating emissions due to difficulties regarding scaling up from very small spatial coverage to the whole pond. 1 In addition, the heterogeneity of the pond can introduce a large uncertainty in estimating true emission rates using flux chamber methods.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the emission rates were reported in two different years (2013 vs 2017), it has been suggested that while pond age may influence emissions of methane and total reduced sulfur compounds, it has no significant effect on the emissions of VOCs . Hence, the discrepancy in the results is likely due to the flux measurement methodology . Suncor uses flux chamber estimates to measure their fluxes, and as discussed previously, these methods are prone to have large uncertainty in estimating emissions due to difficulties regarding scaling up from very small spatial coverage to the whole pond .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Tailings Pond in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta

Moussa

Staebler

You

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Tailings ponds in the oil sands (OS) region in Alberta, Canada, have been associated with fugitive emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants to the atmosphere. However, the contribution of tailings ponds to the total fugitive emissions of VOCs from OS operations remains uncertain. To address this knowledge gap, a field study was conducted in the summer of 2017 at Suncor’s Pond 2/3 to estimate emissions of a suite of pollutants including 68 VOCs using a combination of micrometeorological methods and measurements from a flux tower. The results indicate that in 2017, Pond 2/3 was an emission source of 3322 ± 727 tons of VOCs including alkanes, aromatics, and oxygenated and sulfur-containing organics. While the total VOC emissions were approximately a factor of 2 higher than those reported by Suncor, the individual VOC species emissions varied by up to a factor of 12. A chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model was used to estimate the contribution of the tailings pond to VOC pollution events in a nearby First Nations and Metis community in Fort McKay. CMB results indicate that Suncor Pond 2/3 contributed up to 57% to the total mass of VOCs measured at Fort McKay, reinforcing the importance of accurate VOC emission estimation methods for tailings ponds.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Tailings Pond in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta

Moussa

Staebler

You

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Qiu et al: Development and evaluation of PAC emissions in the AOSR information on individual PAC species has not been elucidated because subjects have mainly been exposed to a mixture of compounds (Gosselin et al, 2010;Kim et al, 2013;Jariyasopit et al, 2016). Limited toxicology data suggest some alkylated PAHs and heterocyclic compounds are more deleterious than the unsubstituted compounds (Yu, 2002;Rhodes et al, 2005;Turcotte et al, 2011;Lin et al, 2015). Considering the equivalent or increased potential for toxic effects, further studies on alkylated PACs are warranted.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions databases for polycyclic aromatic compounds in the Canadian Athabasca oil sands region – development using current knowledge and evaluation with passive sampling and air dispersion modelling data

Qiu¹,

Cheng

Yang³

et al. 2018

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Two speciated and spatially resolved emissions databases for polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in the Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR) were developed. The first database was derived from volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions data provided by the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) and the second database was derived from additional data collected within the Joint Canada-Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM) program. CALPUFF modelling results for atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylated PAHs, and dibenzothiophenes (DBTs), obtained using each of the emissions databases, are presented and compared with measurements from a passive air monitoring network. The JOSMderived emissions resulted in better model-measurement agreement in the total PAH concentrations and for most PAH species concentrations compared to results using CEMAderived emissions. At local sites near oil sands mines, the percent error of the model compared to observations decreased from 30 % using the CEMA-derived emissions to 17 % using the JOSM-derived emissions. The improvement at local sites was likely attributed to the inclusion of updated tailings pond emissions estimated from JOSM activities. In either the CEMA-derived or JOSM-derived emissions scenario, the model underestimated PAH concentrations by a factor of 3 at remote locations. Potential reasons for the disagreement include forest fire emissions, re-emissions of previously deposited PAHs, and long-range transport not con-sidered in the model. Alkylated PAH and DBT concentrations were also significantly underestimated. The CALPUFF model is expected to predict higher concentrations because of the limited chemistry and deposition modelling. Thus the model underestimation of PACs is likely due to gaps in the emissions database for these compounds and uncertainties in the methodology for estimating the emissions. Future work is required that focuses on improving the PAC emissions estimation and speciation methodologies and reducing the uncertainties in VOC emissions which are subsequently used in PAC emissions estimation.

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“…Many recent studies have focused on improving estimates of methane emissions from oil and gas facilities [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], including in the Uinta Basin [8,9,23,24], but methane is not an important ozone precursor [2]. A few recent studies have directly measured speciated organic compound emissions from oil and gas sources, including individual components at well pads [25,26], at the well pad-level [25,27], water storage tanks [28], from oil and gas waste streams [29][30][31][32], during drilling and well completion operations [33], and from subsurface well pad sources [34]. Measurements of speciated non-methane organics in air influenced by the oil and gas sector have been reported [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], and some of these studies have attempted to infer information about specific sources or source types from ambient air data [45][46][47][48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Ethylene and Propylene in an Area Dominated by Oil Production

et al. 2020

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We measured the spatial distribution and composition of ozone-forming hydrocarbons, alcohols, and carbonyls in Utah’s Uinta Basin during the winter months of 2019 and 2020. The Uinta Basin contains about 10,000 producing oil and gas wells. Snow cover and the region’s unique topography (i.e., a large basin entirely surrounded by mountains) promote strong, multi-day temperature inversion episodes that concentrate pollution and lead to wintertime ozone production. Indeed, organic compound concentrations were about eight times higher during inversion episodes than during snow-free springtime conditions. We examined spatial associations between wintertime concentrations of organics and oil and gas sources in the region, and we found that concentrations of highly reactive alkenes were higher in areas with dense oil production than in areas with dense gas production. Total alkene+acetylene concentrations were 267 (42, 1146; lower and upper 95% confidence limits) µg m−3 at locations with 340 or more producing oil wells within 10 km (i.e., 75th percentile) versus 12 (9, 23) µg m−3 at locations with 15 or fewer oil wells (i.e., 25th percentile). Twenty-eight percent of the potential for organic compounds to produce ozone was due to alkenes in areas with dense oil production. Spatial correlations and organic compound ratios indicated that the most likely source of excess alkenes in oil-producing areas was natural gas-fueled engines, especially lean-burning (i.e., high air:fuel ratio) artificial lift engines.

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Emissions of organic compounds from produced water ponds II: Evaluation of flux chamber measurements with inverse-modeling techniques

Cited by 11 publications

References 26 publications

Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Tailings Pond in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta

Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Tailings Pond in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta

Emissions databases for polycyclic aromatic compounds in the Canadian Athabasca oil sands region – development using current knowledge and evaluation with passive sampling and air dispersion modelling data

High Ethylene and Propylene in an Area Dominated by Oil Production

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