Nature Communications (Jan 2017)

Super-emitters in natural gas infrastructure are caused by abnormal process conditions

  • Daniel Zavala-Araiza,
  • Ramón A Alvarez,
  • David R. Lyon,
  • David T. Allen,
  • Anthony J. Marchese,
  • Daniel J. Zimmerle,
  • Steven P. Hamburg

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14012
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

Read online

A large proportion of methane emissions from natural gas production sites are released by a fraction of high-emitting sources. Here, using Monte Carlo simulations, the authors reveal that super-emitters occur due to abnormal process conditions, explaining component and site-based inventory discrepancies.