Natural Gas Emission Regulation

Current State-of-Art &

Future Research Opportunities

04/29/2008School of Industrial Engineering

University of Oklahoma

Hank Grant, Binil Starly

Outline Introduction Barriers to Natural Gas Emission Regulation Current Government Programs Available Tools and Resources Issues to be addressed

Introduction Energy demand to rise 2% annually, supply

outstrips demand. Drop in coal fired plants – projected increase

in gas fired plants to produce electricity. Lack of Energy Policy – uncertainity in future

emission norms. Alternative sources – wind, solar, geo not

enough, therefore current trend - turn to Gas Gas expensive than coal - Lack of pipeline

infrastructure from proven reserves (Rocky Mountains) – likely to change.

Barriers to Deployment of Natural Gas Emission Protocols Perception of environmental technology

solutions as a “cost” as opposed to cost savings

Non-competitive returns on investment Industry’s reluctance to foot the up-front costs

of environmental technology. Time required to implement the technology Regulatory inconsistency and uncertainty Measurement challenges ? ?

PTAC Report, 2005: http://www.ptac.org/eet/eetl.html

Organizations and Stakeholders Related to Natural Gas Research and

Regulation Gas Research Institute (Research) US Oil and Gas Association DOE: National Energy Technology Lab (Research) DOE: Office of Fossil Energy (Research

Management) DOE: Office of Oil and Natural Gas (Regulation) EPA and the State Regulatory Agencies Natural Resources Defense Council Other Associations

Current Programs to reduce emissions DOE’s LINGO program

Integrates technologies and practices to minimize the adverse environmental impact

EPA’s GAS STAR program Partnership with the industry to implement cost

effective technologies to reduce emissions.

EPA’s E3 & Methane to Markets program Provide in-house cost estimating assistance to

researchers; Support EPA's Program and Regional Offices; Undertake fundamental research in areas of

interest to the Laboratory

EPA’s GAS STAR Case Studies UNOCAL – Converted natural gas operated pneumatic

devices to compressed air – saved them $208,000 per year for a single facility in Louisiana. Need a database to track emissions and cost savings.

Columbia Transmission – Saved close to $20 Million dollars since 1993 in methane emission reduction practices. Used internal employee practices, methane data collection

and reduction practices at several pipeline facilities.

Kerr-McGee – had internal economic models and regulatory practices to check for leaks and update inventory – saved about $3.2M annually since 1996.

Available Tools and Resources EPA - Nodal Analysis Tool (Methane to

Markets) The Nodal Analysis tool provides users easy access to

information on cost-effective technologies and practices that reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas industry.

At each point in the process, EPA gives

guidelines on how to reduce emissions of methane and other

VOC’s

Available Tools and Resources EPA’s WAR Algorithm

EPA has developed a chemical simulation for waste reduction (WAR) and the impact on the environment of various gas flows across in a generic input and output stream.

Out PEI/hr to indicate friendliness/unfriendliness of the process.

Human Toxicity Potential by Ingestion or HTPI,Human Toxicity Potential by Inhalation or Dermal Exposure or HTPE,Ozone Depletion Potential or ODP,Global Warming Potential or GWP,Photochemical Oxidation Potential or PCOPAcidification Potential or AP,Aquatic Toxicity Potential or ATP, andTerrestrial Toxicity Potential or TTP.

Simulation of Hydrolysis of water using Coal and Gas as an energy source

Available Tools and Resources NETL: Natural Gas Transmission and

Distribution Model (NGTDM) Derive natural gas supply and end-use

prices and flow patterns for movements of natural gas through the regional interstate network.

Excel based worksheet

Commercial Pipeline Simulation Packages Gas Research Institute: HAPCALC Software Estimates emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and criteria air

pollutants from natural gas industry operations. Software can reduce costs by identifying process units that are significant

sources of emissions that may require further study or sampling

Energy Solutions Rapid and accurate offline design, planning and hydraulic analysis for

natural gas and liquid pipelines

FlowDesk by Gregg Engineering Suite of gas pipeline simulation, integration, and automation tools

that can be used to quickly create operational and business solutions. 

Essentials Gas Regulatory Compliance by Advantica Advantica's Essentials is an end-to-end data management solution

that coordinates all of your regulatory compliance activities.

Issues to be addressed Methods to accurately quantify cost savings from

emission reduction.

Accurate methods/protocols of linking cost savings from emissions control as opposed to using generic emission factor data from the EPA.

A database tool for private industries to track their emissions control/cost savings.

A classification scheme for the Natural gas companies present in the US & Canada.

Issues to be addressed A web based searchable database tool which

displays information on each type of emission reduction procedure, potential impact, implementation protocol, suppliers, cost, past case history etc.

An efficient Leak Detection and Repair Management System

Scientific/Economic model to assess the impact of emission regulation on natural gas processing.

Decision Support Tool Must classify Natural gas Companies based on

output, geography, type to identify cost effective workable solutions.

Identify a comprehensive list of emission reduction mechanisms for each processing operation.

Compile costs involved in implementing and adhering to emission regulation

Tool must perform Cost Benefit Analysis for several emission

regulation norms set by the EPA Provide What-if analysis to assess among different

options.

Emission Costing Model (ESM) Model must answer the following questions?

How are production/processing costs affected by emission regulation?

What type of regulations result in maximum emission reduction at the least cost of implementation?

How effectively can regulations on emissions be met with existing facilities without changing their functionality and utilization?

Can emission release be used as a design criteria for new gas pipeline layout design?

Ongoing and Future Tasks Current status of the regulations

Emission Standards Methods of Reduction Emission Emission Monitoring Protocols

Evaluate existing Models for costing emissions Evaluate GRI’s HAPCalc software – check out its

capabilities, features and applicability in the current industry scenario.

Use the software as a case study example.

Recommendation for future action tasks