| Title: | Atmospheric emission characterization of Marcellus shale natural gas development sites |
| Author(s): | Goetz JD; Floerchinger C; Fortner EC; Wormhoudt J; Massoli P; Knighton WB; Herndon SC; Kolb CE; Knipping E; Shaw SL; DeCarlo PF; |
| Address: | "daggerDepartment of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States. double daggerAerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts 01821, United States. section signDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, United States. parallelElectric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California 94304, United States. perpendicularDepartment of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1520-5851 (Electronic) 0013-936X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Limited direct measurements of criteria pollutants emissions and precursors, as well as natural gas constituents, from Marcellus shale gas development activities contribute to uncertainty about their atmospheric impact. Real-time measurements were made with the Aerodyne Research Inc. Mobile Laboratory to characterize emission rates of atmospheric pollutants. Sites investigated include production well pads, a well pad with a drill rig, a well completion, and compressor stations. Tracer release ratio methods were used to estimate emission rates. A first-order correction factor was developed to account for errors introduced by fenceline tracer release. In contrast to observations from other shale plays, elevated volatile organic compounds, other than CH4 and C2H6, were generally not observed at the investigated sites. Elevated submicrometer particle mass concentrations were also generally not observed. Emission rates from compressor stations ranged from 0.006 to 0.162 tons per day (tpd) for NOx, 0.029 to 0.426 tpd for CO, and 67.9 to 371 tpd for CO2. CH4 and C2H6 emission rates from compressor stations ranged from 0.411 to 4.936 tpd and 0.023 to 0.062 tpd, respectively. Although limited in sample size, this study provides emission rate estimates for some processes in a newly developed natural gas resource and contributes valuable comparisons to other shale gas studies" |
| Keywords: | Air Pollutants/*analysis Atmosphere/*chemistry Carbon Monoxide/analysis Geologic Sediments/*chemistry Ions Limit of Detection Mass Spectrometry Methane/analysis Natural Gas/*analysis Nitrous Oxide/analysis Pennsylvania Time Factors Volatile Organic Compou; |
| Notes: | "MedlineGoetz, J Douglas Floerchinger, Cody Fortner, Edward C Wormhoudt, Joda Massoli, Paola Knighton, W Berk Herndon, Scott C Kolb, Charles E Knipping, Eladio Shaw, Stephanie L DeCarlo, Peter F eng P30 ES013508/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2015/04/22 Environ Sci Technol. 2015 Jun 2; 49(11):7012-20. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00452. Epub 2015 May 19" |
