With new funding that started in 2023, our METEC team is poised to address technical challenges of quantifying and mitigating methane emissions from oil and gas production, the largest source of methane in the U.S.  

The DOE’s Innovative Methane Measurement, Monitoring, and Mitigation Technologies (iM4 Technologies) awardees included CSU as a primary recipient and three subawards to CSU through two partners: Gas Technology Institute (GTI) Energy and the University of Texas at Austin. 

Summary of iM4:

Innovative Methane Measurement, Monitoring, and Mitigation Technologies (iM4) programs improve emissions inventory estimates by evaluating on-site, resource production equipment, especially storage tanks. Projects also include multi- scale, basin-specific atmospheric field monitoring across U.S. natural gas-producing areas. 

In November 2021, President Biden unveiled the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan alongside an Administrations pledge that the United States would work with global partners to reduce methane emissions across the world by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Enhancing greenhouse gas measurement and monitoring through iM4 programs will improve progress tracking towards emissions targets and assessment of climate policy effectiveness. 

Project Overview of Subawards: 

Through iM4, METEC has three subawards.  

With GTI Energy, the METEC team will work on the Storage Tank Emissions Assessment and Quantification project. This includes a $667,300 subaward through July 2026. This project will develop a database on storage tanks and equipment alongside guidance on storage tanks. The resulting work will increase understanding of causes, frequencies, and rates of emissions.  

The METEC team will work with GTI on the Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform project, with a $145,000 subaward through July 2024. This project will aggregate emissions data to make data more useable. 

For the third subaward, the METEC team will work with the University of Texas at Austin on the Marcellus Methane Monitoring (M3) Project. CSU’s $317,500 subaward will go through April 2026. This project will take place in the Marcellus Shale Basin to develop and demonstrate a comprehensive, multi-scale, facility-level, methane emissions measurement and reconciliation protocol. 

Objectives:

The Storage Tank Emissions Assessment and Quantification: 

1. Develop an accurate database on storage tank configurations and associated equipment. 
2. Develop emission factors for tanks that are sensitive to differences between basins, production types, age of facilities, and other variables. 
3. Understand the causes, frequencies, and rates of intermittent emitters, and represent those results in emission factors or emission estimation methods. 
4. Develop guidance on the effectiveness of tank monitoring and control systems for detecting and mitigating emissions. 

The Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform: 

1. Gather requirements for an Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform – a multiscale, integrated platform comprised of workflow processes, procedures, and information technology components that will provide industry-wide, accurate quantification of methane emissions. 
2. Create an Engineering, Design, Deployment, and Operating Plan to build an Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform.  

The Marcellus Methane Monitoring (M3) Project: Multi-scale Measurement and Reconciliation of Methane Emissions: 

1. Work with operators to develop facility plans with activity data for the Mechanistic Air Emissions Simulation (MAES) model.  Organize and conduct group and per-company meetings to education operators on the MAES model. 
2. Modify Denver-Julesburg basin models to match inputs from Marcellus operators.  Organize and conduct meetings to validate models with the operators as a group (and individually) as necessary.  Work with the University of Texas at Austin to develop a method to match models to facilities in the basin.  Set up and document methods to tune frequencies and rates for key emitters.