Methane Emissions from the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage System in the United States

Zimmerle, Daniel; Williams, Laurie; Vaughn, Timothy; Quinn, Casey; Subramanian, R.; Duggan, Gerald P.; Willson, Bryan; Opsomer, Jean D.; Marchese, Anthony J.; Martinez, David M.; Robinson, Allen L.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b01669

Cited by 158 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Despite these omissions, the EPA estimates that 85-90 % of US GHG emissions are covered under the GHGRP. Other recent studies, however, argue that the GHGRP is less complete than estimated by the EPA for two reasons (e.g., Kort et al, 2014;Karion et al, 2015;Lan et al, 2015;Lavoie et al, 2015;Lyon et al, 2015;Mitchell et al, 2015;Subramanian et al, 2015;Zimmerle et al, 2015). First, the emissions that are excluded from the GHGRP are sometimes larger than estimated by the EPA, and second, the EFs used in the GHGRP are smaller than actual emissions from some source sectors like oil and natural gas.…”

Section: Recent Bottom-up Effortsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For example, emission factors for oil and gas operations are difficult to estimate because a small number of emitters often account for a large fraction of emissions (e.g., Allen, 2014;Allen et al, 2015;Brantley et al, 2014;Lan et al, 2015;Mitchell et al, 2015) and because there are so many points along the natural gas production, processing, transmission, and distribution cycle that leak methane (e.g., Kang et al, 2014;Allen et al, 2015;McKain et al, 2015;Subramanian et al, 2015;Zimmerle et al, 2015).…”

Section: Impact Of Recent Advancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constraining sector-specific CO2 and CH4 emissions in the US

Miller

Michalak

2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. This review paper explores recent efforts to estimate state-and national-scale carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) emissions from individual anthropogenic source sectors in the US. Nearly all state and national climate change regulations in the US target specific source sectors, and detailed monitoring of individual sectors presents a greater challenge than monitoring total emissions. We particularly focus on opportunities to synthesize disparate types of information on emissions, including emission inventory data and atmospheric greenhouse gas data.We find that inventory estimates of sector-specific CO 2 emissions are sufficiently accurate for policy evaluation at the national scale but that uncertainties increase at state and local levels. CH 4 emission inventories are highly uncertain for all source sectors at all spatial scales, in part because of the complex, spatially variable relationships between economic activity and CH 4 emissions. In contrast to inventory estimates, top-down estimates use measurements of atmospheric mixing ratios to infer emissions at the surface; thus far, these efforts have had some success identifying urban CO 2 emissions and have successfully identified sector-specific CH 4 emissions in several opportunistic cases. We also describe a number of forward-looking opportunities that would aid efforts to estimate sector-specific emissions: fully combine existing top-down datasets, expand intensive aircraft measurement campaigns and measurements of secondary tracers, and improve the economic and demographic data (e.g., activity data) that drive emission inventories. These steps would better synthesize inventory and topdown data to support sector-specific emission reduction policies.

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Section: Recent Bottom-up Effortsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Impact Of Recent Advancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraining sector-specific CO2 and CH4 emissions in the US

Miller

Michalak

2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…Zimmerle et al 2 disclosed that transmission fugitive emission of United States were 64% of total emission. Total estimated fugitive emission from above ground facilities of TG was approximately 4.214 MMTCO 2 e/y which was 4.09% of the total methane emission from human activities in Bangladesh (Mandal et al…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Natural gas is considered one of the cleanest energy sources because the combustion of natural gas results in low SO 2 and NO x emission and almost no particulate solid or ash content 1 . However, methane (about 19%), the main constituent of natural gas, is one of the most potent greenhouse gas precursors 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Localization of fugitive methane emission from natural gas distribution network of Titas Gas

Mandal

Morshed²

2017

Polish Journal of Chemical Technology

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The aim of this paper is to localize the fugitive leaks from the above ground facilities of the existing system of Titas Gas (TG) after developing mathematical model for fugitive emission. Soap screening techniques and Gasurveyor 500 series instrument were used in this study for detecting potential leaks. Leaked gas was quantifi ed using either Hi-Flow gas sampler or bagging measurements system. The results show that the respective potential gas leaking point of City Gate Station (CGS), commercial Regulating and Metering Station (RMS), industrial RMS, residential RMS and Town Bordering Station (TBS)/ District Regulating Station (DRS) are scrubber dump valve (average leak rate 217.00 L/min), insulating point (average leak rate 4.04 L/min), tube fi tting connector (average leak rate 8.00 L/min), connector (average leak rate 1.55 L/min) and pressure relief valve (average leak rate 437.92 L/min). Fugitive methane emission can be reduced by stopping leaks of fi ttings or components having high K Leak value.

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“…For example, point sources of anthropogenic emissions can be measured directly at discrete times (e.g., Allen et al, 2015;Subramanian et al, 2015;Zimmerle et al, 2015),…”

Section: Introduction and The Need For Diagnosticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic methods for atmospheric inversions of long-lived greenhouse gases

2017

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Abstract. The ability to predict the trajectory of climate change requires a clear understanding of the emissions and uptake (i.e., surface fluxes) of long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs). Furthermore, the development of climate policies is driving a need to constrain the budgets of anthropogenic GHG emissions. Inverse problems that couple atmospheric observations of GHG concentrations with an atmospheric chemistry and transport model have increasingly been used to gain insights into surface fluxes. Given the inherent technical challenges associated with their solution, it is imperative that objective approaches exist for the evaluation of such inverse problems. Because direct observation of fluxes at compatible spatiotemporal scales is rarely possible, diagnostics tools must rely on indirect measures. Here we review diagnostics that have been implemented in recent studies and discuss their use in informing adjustments to model setup. We group the diagnostics along a continuum starting with those that are most closely related to the scientific question being targeted, and ending with those most closely tied to the statistical and computational setup of the inversion. We thus begin with diagnostics based on assessments against independent information (e.g., unused atmospheric observations, largescale scientific constraints), followed by statistical diagnostics of inversion results, diagnostics based on sensitivity tests, and analyses of robustness (e.g., tests focusing on the chemistry and transport model, the atmospheric observations, or the statistical and computational framework), and close with the use of synthetic data experiments (i.e., observing system simulation experiments, OSSEs). We find that existing diagnostics provide a crucial toolbox for evaluating and improving flux estimates but, not surprisingly, cannot overcome the fundamental challenges associated with limited atmospheric observations or the lack of direct flux measurements at compatible scales. As atmospheric inversions are increasingly expected to contribute to national reporting of GHG emissions, the need for developing and implementing robust and transparent evaluation approaches will only grow.

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Methane Emissions from the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage System in the United States

Cited by 158 publications

References 16 publications

Constraining sector-specific CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions in the US

Constraining sector-specific CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions in the US

Localization of fugitive methane emission from natural gas distribution network of Titas Gas

Diagnostic methods for atmospheric inversions of long-lived greenhouse gases

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Methane Emissions from the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage System in the United States

Cited by 158 publications

References 16 publications

Constraining sector-specific CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emissions in the US

Constraining sector-specific CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emissions in the US

Localization of fugitive methane emission from natural gas distribution network of Titas Gas

Diagnostic methods for atmospheric inversions of long-lived greenhouse gases

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Product

Resources

About

Constraining sector-specific CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions in the US

Constraining sector-specific CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions in the US