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Environments
Special Issues
Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Systems
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Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Systems

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (18 September 2020) | Viewed by 10314

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Natalie Pekney

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Interests: air quality impacts from fossil fuel extraction and use; greenhouse gas emissions measurements; air quality modeling and monitoring; natural gas infrastructure emissions quantification and mitigation strategies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Because combusted natural gas generates less carbon dioxide per unit energy produced than coal or oil, transition to natural gas for energy generation presents a potential reduction in climate impacts. However, this benefit depends on low system leakage rates, as methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG). The recent shale gas boom has resulted in significant focus on the GHG footprint of natural gas exploration and production.

The assessment of GHG impacts from natural gas extraction continually changes as rates of development increase or decrease, operators adopt new technologies and mitigation strategies, and regulatory actions are implemented. Measurements and subsequent models can lead to improved GHG emissions monitoring and mitigation strategies, and better estimates for life cycle analysis of GHG emissions from the natural gas value chain. These inventories and models provide the assessments on which climate change policy and regulatory actions are based.

This Special Issue invites critical reviews and research papers that analyze and discuss GHG emissions from natural gas systems. Specific emphasis is on (i) measurements from production and infrastructure components, (ii) their impact on regional air quality, (ii) climate change implications, and (iii) the effect of mitigation strategies and/or regulatory policies.

Dr. Natalie Pekney
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Methane emissions
  • Natural gas
  • Emission inventories
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Natural gas infrastructure

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 793 KiB  
Article
Continuous OTM 33A Analysis of Controlled Releases of Methane with Various Time Periods, Data Rates and Wind Filters
by Robert S. Heltzel, Mohammed T. Zaki, Aron K. Gebreslase, Omar I. Abdul-Aziz and Derek R. Johnson
Environments 2020, 7(9), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7090065 - 29 Aug 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5917
Abstract
Other test method (OTM) 33A has been used to quantify emissions from natural gas sites since it was introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The method relies on point source Gaussian (PSG) assumptions to estimate emissions rates from a targeted site or [...] Read more.
Other test method (OTM) 33A has been used to quantify emissions from natural gas sites since it was introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The method relies on point source Gaussian (PSG) assumptions to estimate emissions rates from a targeted site or source. However, the method often results in low accuracy (typically ±70%, even under conducive conditions). These accuracies were verified with controlled-release experiments. Typically, controlled releases were performed for short periods (15–20 min) under atmospheric conditions that were ideal for effective plume transport. We examined three methane release rates from three distances over various periods of time ranging from seven hours to seven days. Data were recorded continuously from a stationary tower. Atmospheric conditions were highly variable and not always conducive to conventional OTM 33A calculations. OTM 33A estimates were made for 20-min periods when the mean wind direction corresponded to ±90° of the direction from the controlled release to the tower. Further analyses were performed by varying the frequency of the data, the length of the individual OTM 33A periods and the size of the wind angle used to filter data. The results suggested that different (than conventionally used) period lengths, wind filters, data acquisition frequencies and data quality filters impacted the accuracy of OTM 33A when applied to long term measurements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Systems)
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9 pages, 603 KiB  
Article
Revised Estimation Method for Emissions from Automated Plunger Lift Liquid Unloadings
by Adam Pacsi, David W. Sullivan and David T. Allen
Environments 2020, 7(4), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7040025 - 31 Mar 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3869
Abstract
A variety of liquid unloading techniques are used to clear accumulated liquids from the wellbore to increase production rates for oil and gas wells. Data from national measurement studies indicate that a small subset of wells with plunger lift assist, that vent with [...] Read more.
A variety of liquid unloading techniques are used to clear accumulated liquids from the wellbore to increase production rates for oil and gas wells. Data from national measurement studies indicate that a small subset of wells with plunger lift assist, that vent with high frequency and short event duration, contribute a significant fraction of methane emissions from liquid unloading activities in the United States. Compared to direct measurement of emissions at 24 wells in a field campaign, the most commonly used engineering emission estimate for this source category, which is based on the volume of gas in the wellbore, does not accurately predict emissions at the individual well (R2 = 0.06). An alternative emission estimate is proposed that relies on the duration of the venting activity and the gas production rate of the well, which has promising statistical performance characteristics when compared to direct measurement data. This work recommends well parameters that should be collected from future field measurement campaigns that are focused on this emission source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Systems)
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