05.03.2014 Views

addressing uncertainty in oil and natural gas industry greenhouse

addressing uncertainty in oil and natural gas industry greenhouse

addressing uncertainty in oil and natural gas industry greenhouse

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Further guidance for assign<strong>in</strong>g <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> values is provided <strong>in</strong> Section 5 <strong>in</strong> the context of<br />

quantify<strong>in</strong>g <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> for the GHG <strong>in</strong>ventory of a hypothetical <strong>oil</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>gas</strong> facility. The<br />

follow<strong>in</strong>g example demonstrates <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> estimation for a default emission factor.<br />

EXHIBIT 4-3: Uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty Example for Emission Factors<br />

Input Data:<br />

o The CO 2 emissions factor for <strong>natural</strong> <strong>gas</strong> <strong>in</strong> production (non-pipel<strong>in</strong>e quality) is 0.0547 tonnes/10 6<br />

Btu (HHV) (from Table 4-2 of the 2009 API Compendium). An estimate of <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> for this<br />

value is not provided <strong>in</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong>al reference, so an <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> of 10% at the 95% confidence<br />

<strong>in</strong>terval is assumed based on expert judgment. Bias is assumed to be accounted for <strong>in</strong> this value.<br />

o Similarly, the <strong>natural</strong> <strong>gas</strong> heat<strong>in</strong>g values is 1020 Btu/scf (from Table 3-8 of the 2009 API<br />

Compendium). An estimate of <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> for this value is not provided <strong>in</strong> the orig<strong>in</strong>al reference so<br />

an <strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> of 10% at the 95% confidence <strong>in</strong>terval is assumed based on expert judgment. Bias is<br />

assumed to be accounted for <strong>in</strong> this value.<br />

Emission Factor Estimate:<br />

o The emission factor is quantified as the product of the carbon content <strong>and</strong> heat<strong>in</strong>g value, as shown<br />

by the follow<strong>in</strong>g formula:<br />

6<br />

Emission Factor Gas Carbon Content Heat<strong>in</strong>g Value 10 scf/MMscf<br />

× × ×<br />

6<br />

(tonnes CO<br />

2/MMscf) (tonnes CO<br />

2/MMBtu) (Btu/scf) 10 Btu/MMBtu<br />

Uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty Estimate:<br />

o For the purpose of this example, the uncerta<strong>in</strong>ties associated with the carbon content <strong>and</strong> heat<strong>in</strong>g<br />

value are assumed to be <strong>in</strong>dependent because the values are cited from different literature<br />

references <strong>and</strong> are not based on measured data. Therefore, Equation 4-6 is applied to estimate the<br />

<strong>uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty</strong> for the emission factor. This applies the relative uncerta<strong>in</strong>ties for the carbon content<br />

<strong>and</strong> heat<strong>in</strong>g value.<br />

⎛U<br />

X ⎞ ⎛UY<br />

⎞<br />

U ( Rel)<br />

X × Y<br />

= ⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟<br />

⎝ X ⎠ ⎝ Y ⎠<br />

2<br />

2<br />

U = + =<br />

2 2<br />

(Rel)<br />

Emission Factor<br />

0.10 0.10 0.141<br />

The result<strong>in</strong>g emission factor is then:<br />

6<br />

0.0547 tonnes CO2<br />

1,020 Btu 10 scf/MMscf<br />

6<br />

Emission Factor = × ×<br />

MMBtu scf 10 Btu/MMBtu<br />

Emission Factor = 55.8 ± 14.1% tonnes CO /MMscf<br />

( )<br />

2<br />

Pilot Version, September 2009 4-14

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!