scholarly journals Pollution Tradeoffs for Conventional and Natural Gas-Based Marine Fuels

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2235 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Winebrake ◽  
James J. Corbett ◽  
Fatima Umar ◽  
Daniel Yuska
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Marine Transportation ◽  
Near Term

This paper presents a life-cycle emissions analysis of conventional and natural gas-based marine transportation in the United States. We apply a total fuel cycle—or “well-to-propeller”—analysis that evaluates emissions along the fuel production and delivery pathway, including feedstock extraction, processing, distribution, and use. We compare emissions profiles for methanol, liquefied natural gas, and low sulfur marine fuel in our analysis, with a focus on exploring tradeoffs across the following pollutants: greenhouse gases, particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides. For our greenhouse gas analysis, we apply global warming potentials that consider both near-term (20-year) and long-term (100-year) climate forcing impacts. We also conduct uncertainty analysis to evaluate the impacts of methane leakage within the natural gas recovery, processing, and distribution stages of its fuel cycle. Our results indicate that natural-gas based marine fuels can provide significant local environmental benefits compared to distillate fuel; however, these benefits come with a near-term—and possibly long-term—global warming penalty, unless such natural gas-based fuels are derived from renewable feedstock, such as biomass. These results point to the importance of controlling for methane leaks along the natural gas production process and the important role that renewable natural gas can play in the shipping sector. Decision-makers can use these results to inform decisions related to increasing the use of alternative fuels in short sea and coast-wise marine transportation systems.

Full-Fuel-Cycle Modeling for Alternative Transportation Fuels

1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Bell ◽  
M. Gupta ◽  
L. A. Greening
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Potential Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Transportation Fuels ◽  
Mobile Sources ◽  
Fuel Cycle Analysis ◽  
Transportation Sector

Utilization of alternative fuels in the transportation sector has been identified as a potential method for mitigation of petroleum-based energy dependence and pollutant emissions from mobile sources. Traditionally, vehicle tailpipe emissions have served as sole data when evaluating environmental impact. However, considerable differences in extraction and processing requirements for alternative fuels makes evident the need to consider the complete fuel production and use cycle for each fuel scenario. The work presented here provides a case study applied to the southeastern region of the United States for conventional gasoline, reformulated gasoline, natural gas, and methanol vehicle fueling. Results of the study demonstrate the significance of the nonvehicle processes, such as fuel refining, in terms of energy expenditure and emissions production. Unique to this work is the application of the MOBILE5 mobile emissions model in the full-fuel-cycle analysis. Estimates of direct and indirect green-house gas production are also presented and discussed using the full-cycle-analysis method.

Natural Gas as a Marine Propulsion Fuel: Energy and Environmental Benefits in Urban Ferry Service

2000 ◽  
Vol 1738 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Farrell ◽  
Mark Glick
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Implications

Although transportation has major energy and environmental policy implications, not all sectors are treated equally, and ships often are overlooked. However, ships are a significant source of air pollution and account for a nontrivial portion of U.S. petroleum demand. Moderate emissions standards for new marine engines have been proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, but these will take well over a decade to become effective once they are enacted, and there are no energy policy provisions for ships. Nonetheless, ships offer cost-effective options for both emissions reductions and the use of alternative fuels. Aware of these issues, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Transportation Technologies and the Gas Research Institute sponsored a study of the potential use of natural gas as the fuel for passenger ferries as part of their Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Initiative. The results of the study are discussed, with a focus on the energy and environmental issues related to maritime operations in the United States. The challenges and opportunities of a specific project to design, construct, and operate several natural gas-powered ferries in Boston Harbor are discussed. A significant reduction in air pollution and a large increase in the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel are expected from this project, but the greenhouse gas emission impacts are ambiguous. Further, an emissions monitoring and analysis program is described that would greatly improve the accuracy of maritime emissions inventories and would enable ships to take part in existing emissions trading programs in port cities around the country. Such a development would create significant economic incentives to encourage ferry owners to invest in clean fuel technologies, which could have major implications for energy and environmental policy.

Volume reduction of produced water generated from natural gas production process using membrane technology

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Visvanathan ◽  
P. Svenstrup ◽  
P. Ariyamethee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Hollow Fibre ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Grease ◽  
Natural Gas Production ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Spiral Wound

This paper presents a case study of a natural gas production site covering various technical issues related to selection of an appropriate Reverse Osmosis (RO) system. The long-term field experience indicates the necessity of the selection of appropriate pretreatment systems for fouling-free RO operational conditions. The produced water has a variety of impurities such as oil and grease, process chemicals used for corrosion and scaling control, and dehydration of natural gas, etc. This situation leads to a complicated and extremely difficult task for a membrane specialist to design RO systems, especially the pre-treatment section. Here as part of the pretreatment selection, two types of UF membrane modules viz. spiral wound and hollow fibre, with MWCO of 8000 and 50,000 Dalton respectively, were tested in parallel with NF membranes of the spiral wound type with MWCO 200 Dalton. The UF permeate is used as feed for RO compatibility testing. Both configurations of UF failed to be compatible, due to irreversible fouling of the RO membrane. The NF membrane, however, showed interesting results, due to membrane stability in terms of cleaning and fouling. The NF plant with 50% capacity gave a recovery of 75% and the RO plant gave a recovery of 60% versus the expected 92–95%. The long-term tests have indicated that the reminder of the membranes could be installed to achieve full capacity of the plant. This study also demonstrates the importance of selection of proper pre-treatment set-up for the RO system design.

scholarly journals Methane Emissions from Process Equipment at Natural Gas Production Sites in the United States: Liquid Unloadings

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 641-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Allen ◽  
David W. Sullivan ◽  
Daniel Zavala-Araiza ◽  
Adam P. Pacsi ◽  
Matthew Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Process Equipment ◽  
Natural Gas Production

scholarly journals Bootstrap inversion technique for atmospheric trace gas source detection and quantification using long open-path laser measurements

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1565-1582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline B. Alden ◽  
Subhomoy Ghosh ◽  
Sean Coburn ◽  
Colm Sweeney ◽  
Anna Karion ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Statistical Method ◽  
Frequency Comb ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Source Location ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Extraction Technology ◽  
Open Path

Abstract. Advances in natural gas extraction technology have led to increased activity in the production and transport sectors in the United States and, as a consequence, an increased need for reliable monitoring of methane leaks to the atmosphere. We present a statistical methodology in combination with an observing system for the detection and attribution of fugitive emissions of methane from distributed potential source location landscapes such as natural gas production sites. We measure long (> 500 m), integrated open-path concentrations of atmospheric methane using a dual frequency comb spectrometer and combine measurements with an atmospheric transport model to infer leak locations and strengths using a novel statistical method, the non-zero minimum bootstrap (NZMB). The new statistical method allows us to determine whether the empirical distribution of possible source strengths for a given location excludes zero. Using this information, we identify leaking source locations (i.e., natural gas wells) through rejection of the null hypothesis that the source is not leaking. The method is tested with a series of synthetic data inversions with varying measurement density and varying levels of model–data mismatch. It is also tested with field observations of (1) a non-leaking source location and (2) a source location where a controlled emission of 3.1  ×  10−5 kg s−1 of methane gas is released over a period of several hours. This series of synthetic data tests and outdoor field observations using a controlled methane release demonstrates the viability of the approach for the detection and sizing of very small leaks of methane across large distances (4+ km2 in synthetic tests). The field tests demonstrate the ability to attribute small atmospheric enhancements of 17 ppb to the emitting source location against a background of combined atmospheric (e.g., background methane variability) and measurement uncertainty of 5 ppb (1σ), when measurements are averaged over 2 min. The results of the synthetic and field data testing show that the new observing system and statistical approach greatly decreases the incidence of false alarms (that is, wrongly identifying a well site to be leaking) compared with the same tests that do not use the NZMB approach and therefore offers increased leak detection and sizing capabilities.

LNG Use in Freight Rail Industry as an Economic and Environmental Driver: A Technical, Operational and Economic Assessment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio C. Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Rail Freight ◽  
Emission Standards ◽  
Rail Industry

Freight rail carriers have been continuously challenged to reduce costs and comply with increasingly stringent environmental standards, into a continuously competing and environmentally driven industry. In this context, current availability and relative abundance of clean and low cost non conventional gas reserves have aroused a comprehensive reevaluation of rail industry into fuel option, especially where freight rail are strongly diesel based. Countries in which rail sector is required to play an important role in transport matrix, where fuel expenditures currently accounts for a significant share of operational costs, like Australia, Brazil, United States and other continental countries, can be seen as strong candidates to adopt fuel alternatives to diesel fueled freight railways. Moreover, from an environmental perspective, the use of alternative fuels (like natural gas) for locomotive traction may allow rail freight carriers to comply with emission standards into a less technologically complex and costly way. In this context, liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled freight locomotives are seen as a strong potential near-term driver for natural gas use in rail sector, with its intrinsic cost and environmental benefits and with the potential to revolutionize rail industry much like the transition from steam to diesel experienced into the fifties, as well as the more recent advent of use of alternating current diesel-electric locomotives. LNG rail fueled approach has been focused on both retrofitting existing locomotive diesel engines, as well as on original manufactured engines. Given the lower polluting potential of natural gas heavy engines, when compared to diesel counterparts, LNG locomotives can be used to comply with increasingly restrictive Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emission standards with less technological complexity (engine design and aftertreatment hardware) and their intrinsic lower associated costs. Prior to commercial operation of LNG locomotives, there are some technical, operational and economic hurdles that need to be addressed, i.e. : i) locomotive engine and fuel tender car technological maturity and reliability improvement; ii) regulation improvement, basically focused on operational safety and interchange operations; iii) current and long term diesel - gas price differential, a decisive driver, and, finally, iv) LNG infrastructure requirements (fueling facilities, locomotives and tender car specifications). This work involved an extensive research into already published works to present an overview of LNG use in freight rail industry into a technical, operational and economical perspective, followed by a critical evaluation of its potential into some relevant freight rail markets, such as United States, Brazil and Australia, as well as some European non electrified rail freight lines.

scholarly journals A new scenario logic for the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joeri Rogelj ◽  
Daniel Huppmann ◽  
Volker Krey ◽  
Keywan Riahi ◽  
Leon Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Integrated Assessment ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Industrial System ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Near Term

<p>To understand how global warming can be kept well-below 2°C and even 1.5°C, climate policy uses scenarios that describe how society could transform in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Such scenario are typically created with integrated assessment models that include a representation of the economy, and the energy, land-use, and industrial system. However, current climate change scenarios have a key weakness in that they typically focus on reaching specific climate goals in 2100 only. <br><br>This choice results in risky pathways that delay action and seemingly inevitably rely on large quantities of carbon-dioxide removal after mid-century. Here we propose a framework that more closely reflects the intentions of the UN Paris Agreement. It focusses on reaching a peak in global warming with either stabilisation or reversal thereafter. This approach provides a critical extension of the widely used Shared Socioecononomic Pathways (SSP) framework and reveals a more diverse picture: an inevitable transition period of aggressive near-term climate action to reach carbon neutrality can be followed by a variety of long-term states. It allows policymakers to explicitly consider near-term climate strategies in the context of intergenerational equity and long-term sustainability.</p>

scholarly journals The Role of Enhanced Shale Oil & Gas Recovery in the Us & Development & Pricing of Significant Potential Shale Production in Other Countries Such As South America, Canada, & Europe/Asia2018/2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Domestic Water ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Hydro Power ◽  
Gas Treatment ◽  
Environmentally Sound

The Role of Science in Developing Enhanced Oil & Gas Resources, Being Environmentally Sound, & Protecting Water Use • Global transformation with fossil fuel as primary source which have an effect on GDP, export/import changes, and global effects on pricing • History of evolution of oil and gas production in the United States • Global development: European Community, India, China, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico all have proven reserves • All time high extraction of tight natural gas and oil being environmentally sound and protecting domestic water supplies • Hydraulic fracking below potable water supplies • Drilling Diagrams – Vertical and Horizontal, Proper Casing  Record pace of pipeline construction to supply refineries & terminal ports  Pronounced effect on GDP • Natural gas treatment, delivery, from source to energy deficient countries exported as LNG • Cost subsidies and economic pricing of oil and gas extraction, hydro power, coal, nuclear, wind, and solar. Cost of power by region • There are no “Dry Holes” and more attributes of highly advanced geological technology

Improving Economic Opportunity in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-89
Author(s):  
Jared Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Regressive Tax ◽  
Investments In Children ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Work Supports

This chapter examines barriers to economic opportunity and mobility in the United States and offers near- and long-term policies to reduce these barriers. These barriers include high levels of income inequality, unequal access to educational opportunities, residential segregation by income, inadequate investments in children and certain areas, and disparities between economic conditions in rural relative to metro areas. In the near-term, running tight labor markets, infrastructure investment, direct job creation, healthcare and other work supports, and apprenticeships could reduce these barriers. Longer term solutions invoke policy interventions targeting inequality, inadequate housing, income and wage stagnation, nutritional and health support, the criminal justice system, and educational access. It is also crucial to avoid policies that keep opportunity barriers in place, such as reducing the provision of public healthcare, regressive tax cuts, and budget cuts to programs that help low- and moderate-income families.

The Future of Order

2020 ◽  
pp. 228-244
Author(s):  
Kyle M. Lascurettes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
The Future ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Near Term

Chapter 9 (“The Future of Order”) reviews the empirical findings of the book and discusses their implications for the study of international relations. It then leverages these findings to address the two most important questions for international order in the twenty-first century: In the near term, what changes to the existing liberal order will the United States advocate as it continues to decline in relative power? And in the long term, what is its projected hegemonic successor, China, likely to do with the existing order when it finds itself in a position to fundamentally recast its underlying principles?

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