Catalytic Heaters at Oil and Gas Sites May be a Significant yet Overlooked Seasonal Source of Methane Emissions
Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despit...
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Published in | Environmental science & technology letters Vol. 11; no. 9; pp. 948 - 953 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
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American Chemical Society
10.09.2024
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Abstract | Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/–28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems. |
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AbstractList | Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/–28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems. Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/–28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems. Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/-28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems.Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/-28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems. |
Author | Festa-Bianchet, Simon A. Tyner, David R. Johnson, Matthew R. Mohammadikharkeshi, Milad |
AuthorAffiliation | Energy & Emissions Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
AuthorAffiliation_xml | – name: Energy & Emissions Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Simon A. orcidid: 0000-0002-6491-0439 surname: Festa-Bianchet fullname: Festa-Bianchet, Simon A. – sequence: 2 givenname: Milad orcidid: 0009-0008-4077-7398 surname: Mohammadikharkeshi fullname: Mohammadikharkeshi, Milad – sequence: 3 givenname: David R. orcidid: 0000-0002-6500-9888 surname: Tyner fullname: Tyner, David R. – sequence: 4 givenname: Matthew R. orcidid: 0000-0002-3637-9919 surname: Johnson fullname: Johnson, Matthew R. email: Matthew.Johnson@carleton.ca |
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Keywords | methane slip incomplete combustion catalytic heater field measurements upstream oil and gas emissions destruction efficiency |
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Title | Catalytic Heaters at Oil and Gas Sites May be a Significant yet Overlooked Seasonal Source of Methane Emissions |
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