The increasing atmospheric burden of the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 )

• Published in: Atmospheric chemistry and physics Vol. 20; no. 12; pp. 7271 - 7290
• Main Authors: Simmonds, Peter G, Rigby, Matthew, Manning, Alistair J, Park, Sunyoung, Stanley, Kieran M, McCulloch, Archie, Henne, Stephan, Graziosi, Francesco, Maione, Michela, Arduini, Jgor, Reimann, Stefan, Vollmer, Martin K, Mühle, Jens, O'Doherty, Simon, Young, Dickon, Krummel, Paul B, Fraser, Paul J, Weiss, Ray F, Salameh, Peter K, Harth, Christina M, Park, Mi-Kyung, Park, Hyeri, Arnold, Tim, Rennick, Chris, Steele, L. Paul, Mitrevski, Blagoj, Wang, Ray H. J, Prinn, Ronald G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 23.06.2020; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Air pollution; Air sampling; Aluminium; Aluminum; Analysis; Atmospheric carbon dioxide; Atmospheric gases; Blanketing; Carbon dioxide; Circuit breakers; Climate change; Developing countries; Economic development; Economic growth; Economics; Electric equipment; Electric industries; Electric power; Electric power sources; Electrical equipment; Electronics; Emission; Emissions (Pollution); Estimates; Gases; Global temperature changes; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Industrial applications; Industry; International organizations; Kyoto Protocol; LDCs; Lifetime; Magnesium; Metal industry; Metals; Stratosphere; Sulfur; Sulfur hexafluoride; Sulphur; Switchgear; Trends; United States > US; Europe; China; Japan
• ISSN: 1680-7324; 1680-7316; 1680-7324
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-20-7271-2020

We report a 40-year history of SF.sub.6 atmospheric mole fractions measured at the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) monitoring sites, combined with archived air samples, to determine emission estimates from 1978 to 2018. Previously we reported a global emission rate of 7.3±0.6 Gg yr.sup.-1 in 2008 and over the past decade emissions have continued to increase by about 24 % to 9.04±0.35 Gg yr.sup.-1 in 2018. We show that changing patterns in SF.sub.6 consumption from developed (Kyoto Protocol Annex-1) to developing countries (non-Annex-1) and the rapid global expansion of the electric power industry, mainly in Asia, have increased the demand for SF.sub.6 -insulated switchgear, circuit breakers, and transformers. The large bank of SF.sub.6 sequestered in this electrical equipment provides a substantial source of emissions from maintenance, replacement, and continuous leakage. Other emissive sources of SF.sub.6 occur from the magnesium, aluminium, and electronics industries as well as more minor industrial applications. More recently, reported emissions, including those from electrical equipment and metal industries, primarily in the Annex-1 countries, have declined steadily through substitution of alternative blanketing gases and technological improvements in less emissive equipment and more efficient industrial practices. Nevertheless, there are still demands for SF.sub.6 in Annex-1 countries due to economic growth, as well as continuing emissions from older equipment and additional emissions from newly installed SF.sub.6 -insulated electrical equipment, although at low emission rates. In addition, in the non-Annex-1 countries, SF.sub.6 emissions have increased due to an expansion in the growth of the electrical power, metal, and electronics industries to support their continuing development.