Overview of Greenhouse Gases – Part 1

Methane:

More than 60% of Methane emissions come from human-related activities and it contributes about 9% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, industry, agriculture and waste management activities emit methane in the following ways¹:

Industry

Oil and natural gas industries contribute a large source of Methane emission in the USA. It is emitted during the production, processing, storage, transmission and distribution of natural gas¹.

 The Oil and gas sector was a small but significant contributor and it was less than the emissions form the beef cattle industry. “EPA also revised previous years’ inventories to make the cattle industry the top methane emitter since 2009. The 2011 inventory had erroneously found the natural gas sector was the largest methane emitter in the U.S. (EnergyWire, April 16, 2013). In addition, EPA has not tracked methane emissions from oil wells as comprehensively as it has emissions from natural gas systems. For instance, oil wells often co-produce methane, which is emitted when a well gets fracked or worked over. EPA does not include these emissions in its inventory¹”.

Petruleum System

Agriculture

Generally, the agriculture segment is the primary source of CH4 emissions. Domestic livestock produce a large amount of Methane during the digestive process. In addition, animals’ manure that is stored or managed in lagoons or holding tanks produces CH4. Waste from Homes & Business: the third source of Methane emissions is landfills and in the treatment of wastewater in the United States¹.

Other sources

naturally, wetlands are the major source of Methane from bacteria during decomposing organic materials in the absence of oxygen. Moreover, termites, oceans, sediments, volcanoes and wildfires are responsible for emitting small amounts of CH4¹.

 Natural processes in soil and chemical reactions in the atmosphere remove methane form the environment. Although the life time of Methane is shorter than carbon dioxide (CO2), CH4 is more efficient in trapping radiation than CO2. Therefore, the comparative impact of CH4 on climate change is over 20 times greater than CO2 over a 100 year period¹.

Use of Controls

Methane emissions have decreased about 17% from the natural gas industry since 1990, even though production has increased significantly. The reduction in emissions is due to the latest technology and other control equipment, such as low-bleed pneumatic devices and plunger lifts for liquids unloading. EPA agency noted that producers are currently capturing or flaring about half the excess methane they generate². Read more. https://shipandshore.com/flares/

Ship & Shore Environmental designs customized air pollution abatement systems. Technology design options provide great flexibility to ensure capture of greenhouse gasses, control of emissions, and low operating costs. Ship & Shore’s Clean Tech RTO is designed to handle large volume/low concentration pollutants reliably with minimal support fuel. Built-in primary heat exchangers provide for highly energy-efficient operation with many systems operating auto-therm, i.e. no support fuel after start-up. Moreover, secondary heat recovery of stack effluent can further reduce facility fuel consumption of other process/comfort heating systems and favorably impact ROI.

Reference

1) https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/02/26/talk-about-natural-gas-cow-belches-top-methane-list/

2)https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059995037

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