Improving consistency in methane emission quantification from the natural gas distribution systems across measurement devices

作者：Judith Tettenborn, Daniel Zavala‐Araiza, Daan Stroeken, Hossein Maazallahi, Carina van der Veen, A. Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Felix Vogel, Lawson Gillespie, Sébastien Ars, James L. France, David Lowry, Rebecca Fisher, Thomas Röckmann · 发表于：Atmospheric measurement techniques · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics、Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis、Spectroscopy and Laser Applications

Abstract. Mobile real-time measurements of ambient methane provide a fast and effective method to identify and quantify methane leaks from local gas distribution systems in urban areas. The objectives of these methodologies are to (i) identify leak locations for repair and (ii) construct measurement-based emission rate estimates, which can improve emissions reporting and contribute to monitoring emission changes over time. Currently, the most common method for emission quantification uses the maximum methane enhancement detected while crossing a methane plume. However, the recorded maximum depends on instrument characteristics, such as measurement cell size, pump speed, and measurement frequency. Consequently, the current approach can only be used by instruments with similar characteristics. We suggest that the integrated spatial peak area is a more suitable quantity that can eliminate the bias between different instruments. Based on controlled release experiments conducted with various devices in four cities (London, Toronto, Rotterdam, and Utrecht), emission estimation methodologies were evaluated. Indeed, when different analysers were measuring in the same vehicle and from the same air inlet, the integrated spatial peak area was found to be a more robust metric across different methane gas analyser devices than the maximum methane enhancement. A statistical function based on integrated spatial peak area is proposed for more consistent emission estimations when using differ...