Methane Emissions Mitigation and Quantification from Natural Gas Infrastructure

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Amendment 000003 to DE-FOA-0001538 - This Amendment is to revise the FOA in order to provide clarity of Field 12 Attachments/Appendices, under Section IV: Application and Submission Information, part (C) Content and Form of Application – 3B, 3D, and the Summary of Required Forms/Files, while more specifically incorporating a Bibliography & References Cited Appendix under 3D. Other/Additional Required Attachments/Appendices (Field 12 on the form). The resultant changes are highlighted in YELLOW within the document Methane (CH4) is recognized as an efficient greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change. In the United States, the rapid growth of domestic natural gas resources, coupled with the operational challenges of legacy interstate high pressure pipelines and an aging gas utility delivery system increase the likelihood of methane leakage (emissions) to the atmosphere. Natural gas distribution systems represent approximately 20 percent of all methane leaks from gas systems. Emissions from local gas distribution systems come largely from two sources—leak prone pipelines and meters and regulators at city-gates. The Transmission and Storage Segment systems emits approximately 35 percent of total natural gas system methane emissions. The largest methane sources of emissions from the transmission and storage were reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, pneumatic controllers, blowdowns, and equipment leaks. A public research effort is needed to find more effective and cost efficient ways to mitigate methane emissions and better quantify the sources, volumes and rates of methane emissions across the natural gas infrastructure. The objective of the mitigation-focused research portion of the Program is the development for a suite of natural gas leak mitigation technologies that will enable companies to effectively mitigate leaks. The objective of the methane emission quantification-focused portion of the Program is to better quantify methane emissions from the natural gas value chain.

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