scholarly journals In Brief: Satellite study of natural gas flaring

Eos ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 88 (37) ◽  
pp. 359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy Showstack
Keyword(s):  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Qi ◽  
Qinbin Li ◽  
Daven K. Henze ◽  
Hsien-Liang Tseng ◽  
Cenlin He

Abstract. We quantify source contributions to springtime (April 2008) surface black carbon (BC) in the Arctic by interpreting surface observations of BC at five receptor sites (Denali, Barrow, Alert, Zeppelin, and Summit) using a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and its adjoint. Contributions to BC at Barrow, Alert, and Zeppelin are dominated by Asian anthropogenic sources (40–43 %) before April 18 and by Siberian open biomass burning emissions (29–41 %) afterward. In contrast, Summit, a mostly free tropospheric site, has predominantly an Asian anthropogenic source contribution (24–68 %, with an average of 45 %). We compute the adjoint sensitivity of BC concentrations at the five sites during a pollution episode (April 20–25) to global emissions from March 1 to April 25. The associated contributions are the combined results of these sensitivities and BC emissions. Local and regional anthropogenic sources in Alaska are the largest anthropogenic sources of BC at Denali (63 %), and natural gas flaring emissions in the Western Extreme North of Russia (WENR) are the largest anthropogenic sources of BC at Zeppelin (26 %) and Alert (13 %). We find that long-range transport of emissions from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (also known as Jing-Jin-Ji), the biggest urbanized region in Northern China, contribute significantly (~ 10 %) to surface BC across the Arctic. On average it takes ~ 12 days for Asian anthropogenic emissions and Siberian biomass burning emissions to reach Arctic lower troposphere, supporting earlier studies. Natural gas flaring emissions from the WENR reach Zeppelin in about a week. We find that episodic, direct transport events dominate BC at Denali (87 %), a site outside the Arctic front, a strong transport barrier. The relative contribution of direct transport to surface BC within the Arctic front is much smaller (~ 50 % at Barrow and Zeppelin and ~ 10 % at Alert). The large contributions from Asian anthropogenic sources are predominately in the form of ‘chronic’ pollution (~ 40 % at Barrow and 65 % at Alert and 57 % at Zeppelin) on 1–2 month timescales. As such, it is likely that previous studies using 5- or 10-day trajectory analyses strongly underestimated the contribution from Asia to surface BC in the Arctic. Both finer temporal resolution of biomass burning emissions and accounting for the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen (WBF) process in wet scavenging improve the source attribution estimates.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Maria Nogueira Camargos ◽  
Letícia Moreira Albuquerque ◽  
Hugo Candiá Saad

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 116-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenni Ma ◽  
Cristian Trevisanut ◽  
Cristian Neagoe ◽  
Daria C. Boffito ◽  
Seyed Mahdi Jazayeri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (20) ◽  
pp. 5003-5006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Golombok ◽  
Wendy Teunissen
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Romsom ◽  
Kathryn McPhail

This second paper on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting builds on our first, which evaluated the economic and social cost (SCAR) of wasted natural gas. These emissions must be reduced urgently for natural gas to meet its potential as an energy-transition fuel under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and to improve air quality and health. Wide-ranging initiatives and solutions exist already; the selection of the most suitable ones is situation-dependent. We present solutions and actions in a four-point (‘Diamond’) model involving: (1) measurement of chemicals emitted, (2) accountability and transparency of emissions through disclosure and reporting, (3) economic deployment of technologies for (small-scale) gas monetization, and (4) an ‘all-of-government’ approach to regulation and fiscal measures. Combining these actions in an integrated framework can end routine flaring and venting in many oil and gas developments. This is particularly important for low- and middle-income countries: satellite data since 2005 show that 85 per cent of total gas flared is in developing countries. Satellite data in 2017 identified location and amount of natural gas burned for 10,828 individual flares in 94 countries. Particular focus is needed to improve flare quality and capture natural gas from the 1 per cent ‘super-emitter’ flares responsible for 23 per cent of global natural gas flared.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 9697-9716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Qi ◽  
Qinbin Li ◽  
Daven K. Henze ◽  
Hsien-Liang Tseng ◽  
Cenlin He

Abstract. We quantify source contributions to springtime (April 2008) surface black carbon (BC) in the Arctic by interpreting surface observations of BC at five receptor sites (Denali, Barrow, Alert, Zeppelin, and Summit) using a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and its adjoint. Contributions to BC at Barrow, Alert, and Zeppelin are dominated by Asian anthropogenic sources (40–43 %) before 18 April and by Siberian open biomass burning emissions (29–41 %) afterward. In contrast, Summit, a mostly free tropospheric site, has predominantly an Asian anthropogenic source contribution (24–68 %, with an average of 45 %). We compute the adjoint sensitivity of BC concentrations at the five sites during a pollution episode (20–25 April) to global emissions from 1 March to 25 April. The associated contributions are the combined results of these sensitivities and BC emissions. Local and regional anthropogenic sources in Alaska are the largest anthropogenic sources of BC at Denali (63 % of total anthropogenic contributions), and natural gas flaring emissions in the western extreme north of Russia (WENR) are the largest anthropogenic sources of BC at Zeppelin (26 %) and Alert (13 %). We find that long-range transport of emissions from Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (also known as Jing–Jin–Ji), the biggest urbanized region in northern China, contribute significantly (∼ 10 %) to surface BC across the Arctic. On average, it takes ∼ 12 days for Asian anthropogenic emissions and Siberian biomass burning emissions to reach the Arctic lower troposphere, supporting earlier studies. Natural gas flaring emissions from the WENR reach Zeppelin in about a week. We find that episodic transport events dominate BC at Denali (87 %), a site outside the Arctic front, which is a strong transport barrier. The relative contribution of these events to surface BC within the polar dome is much smaller (∼ 50 % at Barrow and Zeppelin and ∼ 10 % at Alert). The large contributions from Asian anthropogenic sources are predominately in the form of chronic pollution (∼ 40 % at Barrow, 65 % at Alert, and 57 % at Zeppelin) on about a 1-month timescale. As such, it is likely that previous studies using 5- or 10-day trajectory analyses strongly underestimated the contribution from Asia to surface BC in the Arctic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
O.G. Fawole ◽  
X.-M. Cai ◽  
I. Nikolova ◽  
A.R. MacKenzie

This study proposes an approach for estimating the emission of soot, carbon monoxide (CO) and carbondioxide (CO ) from a typical gas flare. The estimations depend on the quantity and varying composition of the 2 natural gas, flame dynamics (represented by the fire Froude number, Fr ) and the equivalence ratio, f, of the fuel- f air mixture. Soot emission estimates are presented as a function of fire Froude number for gases used in labbased  test in order to validate the scheme and for two real-world fuel gas compositions. The mass-weighted carbon-hydrogen ratio (C:H) of the fuel gas compositions are 0.25 and 0.29 which are two extreme cases in terms of density. The soot yield of the lab-based test case was scaled up to estimate the soot yield of a full scale flare using the Richardson number as the scaling parameter. When all other variables are held constant at values characteristics of real-world flares, a difference of 16 % in the fuel-gas density, as indicated by the carbonhydrogen ratio, results in an increase of the emission factors (EF) of soot, CO and CO by factors of ~3, ~1.4 2 3 and ~1.7, measured in g/m , respectively. For both fuel gas compositions, the ratio of EF to EF at the fuel- soot CO lean region f < 1) is higher. The ratio lies in the range 0.031 – 0.13 and 0.0012 – 0.0055 for the fuel-lean (f < 1) and fuel-rich (f > 1) regions, respectively. The approach proposed and results obtained may be adopted to generate emissions inventories of emission species associated with gas flaring on regional and global scales. Keywords: gas flaring; soot; natural gas; emission factor; black carbon; equivalence ratio


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