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Title: Quantifying methane emissions from natural gas production in north-eastern Pennsylvania

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
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  1. The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
  4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  5. FLIR Systems, West Lafayette, IN (United States)
  6. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Natural gas infrastructure releases methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The estimated emission rate associated with the production and transportation of natural gas is uncertain, hindering our understanding of its greenhouse footprint. This study presents a new application of inverse methodology for estimating regional emission rates from natural gas production and gathering facilities in north-eastern Pennsylvania. An inventory of CH4 emissions was compiled for major sources in Pennsylvania. This inventory served as input emission data for the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry enabled (WRF-Chem), and atmospheric CH4 mole fraction fields were generated at 3km resolution. Simulated atmospheric CH4 enhancements from WRF-Chem were compared to observations obtained from a 3-week flight campaign in May 2015. Modelled enhancements from sources not associated with upstream natural gas processes were assumed constant and known and therefore removed from the optimization procedure, creating a set of observed enhancements from natural gas only. Simulated emission rates from unconventional production were then adjusted to minimize the mismatch between aircraft observations and model-simulated mole fractions for 10 flights. To evaluate the method, an aircraft mass balance calculation was performed for four flights where conditions permitted its use. Using the model optimization approach, the weighted mean emission rate from unconventional natural gas production and gathering facilities in north-eastern Pennsylvania approach is found to be 0.36% of total gas production, with a 2σ confidence interval between 0.27 and 0.45% of production. Similarly, the mean emission estimates using the aircraft mass balance approach are calculated to be 0.40% of regional natural gas production, with a 2σ confidence interval between 0.08 and 0.72% of production. Furthermore these emission rates as a percent of production are lower than rates found in any other basin using a top-down methodology, and may be indicative of some characteristics of the basin that make sources from the north-eastern Marcellus region unique.

Research Organization:
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0013590
OSTI ID:
1502861
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Vol. 17, Issue 22; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Quantifying Methane and Ethane Emissions to the Atmosphere From Central and Western U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Production Regions journal July 2018
Methane Emissions from the Marcellus Shale in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia Based on Airborne Measurements journal February 2019
Forward Modeling and Optimization of Methane Emissions in the South Central United States Using Aircraft Transects Across Frontal Boundaries journal November 2019
Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain journal June 2018
Impacts of physical parameterization on prediction of ethane concentrations for oil and gas emissions in WRF-Chem journal January 2018
Intercomparison of atmospheric trace gas dispersion models: Barnett Shale case study journal January 2019
Calibration and field testing of cavity ring-down laser spectrometers measuring CH4, CO2, and δ13CH4 deployed on towers in the Marcellus Shale region journal January 2018
Adaptation and performance assessment of a quantum and interband cascade laser spectrometer for simultaneous airborne in situ observation of CH4, C2H6, CO2, CO and N2O journal January 2019

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