Fossil fuel exploitation

Thu, 23 May 2019 | Methane Emissions

For CH4 emissions from fossil fuel exploitation it is assumed that the most profitable measures would be taken first. Therefore, increased maintenance is assumed at a 'cost' of-$200 per tonne CH4 in 1990 and increased on-site use of otherwise vented gas at a cost of -$100 in 2000 and 2025. Other measures are taken later in time at a cost of $100 in 2050, $200 in 2075 and $300 in 2100. In 1990, the introduction of improved inspection and maintenance is assumed. In 2000 and 2025 extra measures are taken to increase on-site gas use from vents and flares. The more expensive measures are taken between 2050 and 2100. Cost estimates are based on AEAT (1998) and De Jager et al (1996). The cost development is based on my own assumptions.

The content of the six CH4 reduction packages is summarized in Table 13.5 along with the assumptions made on the costs of measures. It is assumed that

Table 13.5 Overview of options and costs that were used in the six methane reduction strategies in this study
Source of CH4	Description of option	US$1990/ tonne of avoided CH4 per year	Reference
Oil and gas	Increased inspection and	-200	De Jager et al (1996)
production	maintenance
	Increased on-site use of otherwise	-100-10	DeJageretal (1996)
	vented methane at oil and gas		DeJageretal (1996)
	production sites offshore
	Increased flaring instead of venting	200-400	De Jager etal (1996)
Oil and gas	Accelerated pipeline modernization	500-1000	DeJageretal (1996)
transmission
Gas distribution	Improved leak control and repair	200	DeJageretal (1996)
Coal mining	Pre-mining degasification	40	IEA (1999)
	Enhanced gob-well recovery	10	IEA (1999)
	Ventilation air use	10	IEA (1999)
Cattle enteric	Improved production efficiency	0	Blok and de Jager
fermentation			(1994)
	Improved feeding	5	EPA (1998)
	Production enhancing agents	400	AEAT (1998)
	Reducing animal numbers	0	Blok and de Jager (1994)
	Increase rumen efficiency	3000-6000	AEAT (1998)
Manure	Dry storage	200	AEAT (1998)
	Daily spreading	2000	AEAT (1998)
	Large-scale digestion and biogas	1000	AEAT (1998)
	recovery
	Small-scale digestion and biogas	500	AEAT (1998)
	recovery
Sewage treatment	Increased on-site use of biogas	50-500	Byfield etal (1997)
Landfills	Reduction of biodegradable waste to landfill by paper recycling	-2200	Meadows etal (1996)
	Controlled gasification of waste	-350	DeJageretal (1996)
	Landfill gas recovery and upgrading	-200	Meadows etal (1996)
	Landfill gas recovery and use for heat	-50	Meadows et al (1996)
	Reduction of biodegradable waste	1000-1800	Meadows etal (1996)
	to landfill by composting or
	incineration
Rice	Intermittent draining and other cultivation practices	5	Byfield etal (1997)
Biomass burning	Improved burning of traditional fuelwood	-100	Byfield etal (1997)
	Reduced deforestation	200	Byfield etal (1997)
	Reduced agricultural waste and	150	Byfield etal (1997)
	savanna burning

the more expensive options are taken after 2025 and that measures costing more than $500/tonne avoided CH4 were too expensive for adoption. Table 13.6 gives an overview of the costs of mitigation by source sector and its assumed variation over time (1990-2100).

Table 13.6 Costs of reduction measures in US$1990 tonne-1 of CH4yr-1 in the period 1990-2100 as input to IMAGE
Source	1990	2000	2025	2050	2075	2100
Biomass burning	200	200	200	200	200	200
Agricultural waste burning	150	150	150	150	150	150
Savanna burning	150	150	150	150	150	150
Landfills	-50	-50	-200	-200	-350	-350
Sewage	50	100	200	300	400	500
Wetland rice	5	5	5	5	5	5
Animals	5	5	5	5	5	5
Animal waste	500	500	500	500	500	500
Fossil fuel exploitation	-200	-100	-100	100	200	300

Source: Based on own assumptions Van Amstel (2009) and Blok and de Jager (1994); De Jager et al (1996); Meadows et al (1996); Byfield et al (1997); EPA (1998); IEA (1999); and AEAT (1998)

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