Livestock Methane Emission: Microbial Ecology and Mitigation Strategies

Methane is an important gas of earth's environment. It emits from various naturally as well as anthropogenic sources and responsible for maintaining earth's global temperature favorable for humans and other organisms to live. In recent years many activities of human development led to generation of a large volume of methane which has exhibited catastrophic effect on humans as well as animal lives on earth. Methane poses high global warming potential and has been found second most abounded gas in the environment responsible for global warming of earth after carbon dioxide which is well documented in gigantic body of literature. Methane emission is projected to reach 254 Gg/ year by the year 2025. The sources of methane generation are scattered in nature that includes marshes, paddy crops, landfills and natural anaerobic decomposition of the organic matter present in the environment and digestion in ruminants as well handling and use of fossil fuels. The versatile sources of methane generation are uncontrolled and tough to be tamed. However, its emissions and negative effects could be reduced by effectively and efficiently managing its sources of emission and utilizing generated volume for energy production. This study emphasize on the harmful as well as beneficial aspects of the methane, its utilization and strategies to control emission from various sources.

Download Full-text

Influence of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations on methane emission and its associated soil microflora in rice ecosystem

Journal of Applied and Natural Science ◽

10.31018/jans.v13isi.2773 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (SI) ◽

pp. 26-34

Author(s):

S. K. Rajkishore ◽

M. Maheswari ◽

K. S. Subramanian ◽

R. Prabhu ◽

G. Vanitha

Keyword(s):

Elevated Co2 ◽

Methane Emission ◽

Methane Flux ◽

Methane Emissions ◽

Soil Microflora ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Emission Rates ◽

Randomized Design ◽

Dry Soil ◽

Rice Ecosystem

The dynamics of methane emission and its associated soil microflora in rice ecosystem as a response to elevated CO2 concentrations were studied in open top chamber (OTC) conditions. The treatments consisted of three levels of CO2 (396, 550 and 750 µmol mol-1) and three levels of nitrogen (0, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and replicated five times in a completely randomized design. The data showed that elevated [CO2] significantly (P ? 0.01) increased the DOC throughout the cropping period with the values ranging from 533 to 722 mg L-1 and 368 to 501 mg L-1 in C750 and Camb, respectively. Methane emission rates were monitored regularly during the experiment period and it was revealed that elevated [CO2] had increased the methane emissions regardless of stages of crop growth. It was observed that methane emissions were significantly higher under [CO2] of 750 µmol mol-1 by 33 to 54 per cent over the ambient [CO2] of 396 µmol mol-1. Consistent with the observed increases in methane flux, the enumeration of methanogens showed a significant (P ? 0.01) increase under elevated [CO2] with the population ranging from 5.7 to 20.1 x 104 CFU g-1 of dry soil and 5.1 to 16.9 x 104 CFU g-1 of dry soil under C750 and Camb concentrations, respectively. Interestingly, even though higher methanotrophs population was recorded under elevated [CO2], it could not circumvent the methane emission. Overall, the results of OTC studies suggest that methane mitigation strategies need to be explored for the future high CO2 environments.

Download Full-text

Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production: modelling methods, methane emission factors and mitigation strategies

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production - Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science ◽

10.19103/as.2020.0077.04 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 25-54

Author(s):

Donal O’Brien ◽

◽

Laurence Shalloo ◽

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Methane Emission ◽

Livestock Production ◽

Emission Factors ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Modelling Methods ◽

Production Modelling

This chapter discusses the systems analysis and life cycle assessment modelling approaches and also looks at a range of model applications. These applications include use within the national inventories of various countries across species including discussions around the use of different emission factors. The chapter concludes with applications to quantify emissions at the farm level and a discussion around some of the mitigation strategies that have been modelled previously.

Download Full-text

Identification and characterization of high methane-emitting abandoned oil and gas wells

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1605913113 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 113 (48) ◽

pp. 13636-13641 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Mary Kang ◽

Shanna Christian ◽

Michael A. Celia ◽

Denise L. Mauzerall ◽

Markus Bill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Methane Emission ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Methane Emissions ◽

Gas Production ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Gas Wells ◽

Emission Data ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Abandoned Wells ◽

Oil Gas

Recent measurements of methane emissions from abandoned oil/gas wells show that these wells can be a substantial source of methane to the atmosphere, particularly from a small proportion of high-emitting wells. However, identifying high emitters remains a challenge. We couple 163 well measurements of methane flow rates; ethane, propane, andn-butane concentrations; isotopes of methane; and noble gas concentrations from 88 wells in Pennsylvania with synthesized data from historical documents, field investigations, and state databases. Using our databases, we (i) improve estimates of the number of abandoned wells in Pennsylvania; (ii) characterize key attributes that accompany high emitters, including depth, type, plugging status, and coal area designation; and (iii) estimate attribute-specific and overall methane emissions from abandoned wells. High emitters are best predicted as unplugged gas wells and plugged/vented gas wells in coal areas and appear to be unrelated to the presence of underground natural gas storage areas or unconventional oil/gas production. Repeat measurements over 2 years show that flow rates of high emitters are sustained through time. Our attribute-based methane emission data and our comprehensive estimate of 470,000–750,000 abandoned wells in Pennsylvania result in estimated state-wide emissions of 0.04–0.07 Mt (1012g) CH4per year. This estimate represents 5–8% of annual anthropogenic methane emissions in Pennsylvania. Our methodology combining new field measurements with data mining of previously unavailable well attributes and numbers of wells can be used to improve methane emission estimates and prioritize cost-effective mitigation strategies for Pennsylvania and beyond.

Download Full-text

Methane emission from rice paddies and possible mitigation strategies

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/0045-6535(93)90422-2 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 26 (1-4) ◽

pp. 201-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 116

Author(s):

R. Wassmann ◽

H. Papen ◽

H. Rennenberg

Keyword(s):

Methane Emission ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Rice Paddies

Download Full-text

Remote Sensing Based Methane Emission Inventory Vis-A-Vis Rice Cultural Types Of South Asia

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-8-821-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol XL-8 ◽

pp. 821-826 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

K. R. Manjunath ◽

R. More ◽

P. Chauhan ◽

A. Vyas ◽

S. Panigrahy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Asia ◽

Methane Emission ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Current Approach ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Anthropogenic Source ◽

Rice Area ◽

The Mean ◽

Secondary Data Sources ◽

Cultural Types

Rice cultivation has been recognized as one of the major anthropogenic source for methane (CH4) emissions which is a microbial mediated anaerobic activity, mainly favoured by the flooded conditions in the rice fields. Information available on CH4 emission is limited, especially in a spatial domain, mainly because of the complexity involved in generating such data. The current approach demonstrates the use of secondary data sources available on the methane emission scaling factors, coupled with the information derived on rice cultural types and crop calendar. Methane emission from each type of rice field was firstly calculated by multiplying the emission factor by the corresponding cultivation area and length of cropping period. The values were then extrapolated over each country with respect to the rice area and crop duration for under each cultural type. The rice cultural type wise methane emission value for South Asia was derived by summation of individual emission values for the respective cultural type within each country. The total methane emission derived for South Asia region is (4.7817 Tg/yr). The mean methane emission estimates derived for each country are viz. India (3.3860 Tg/yr), Bangladesh (0.9136 Tg/yr), Pakistan (0.2675 Tg/yr), Sri Lanka (0.1073 Tg/yr) and Nepal (0.1074 Tg/yr). The derived methane emission estimates could be used to study the regional variations within the country and also to adopt the mitigation strategies to combat the high methane emission values within specific cultural type by means of altering the farming practise or water regime.

Download Full-text