Air Issues of Interest
API Ongoing Research
Areas of Needed Research
Air Quality Applied Sciences Team
(AQAST) Meeting
January 16, 2014
Cathe Kalisz
kaliszc@api.org11
About the American
Petroleum Institute
 A national trade association that represents all segments of
America’s oil and natural gas industry with more than 550
members
 Members are large, integrated companies; exploration and
production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine
businesses; and service and supply firms
 Key functions include advocacy, research,
development/publication of industry standards, and
certification and training programs
 The Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Department conducts
research addressing health and environmental issues in air
(including greenhouse gases), water and solid waste
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API Ongoing or
Planned Air Research
Improving PM2.5 Emissions Estimates
(Air Control Techniques, Inc.)
PM2.5 “Wet” Test Method
OBJECTIVE:
 Design a relatively simple method, using mostly equipment stack testers
will have available, for measuring PM2.5 filterable particulate in watersaturated exhaust streams.
BACKGROUND:
 Currently there is no EPA regulatory test method for measuring PM2.5
filterable particulate in saturated exhaust streams.
 Sources with wet scrubbers must use EPA Method 5 for total filterable
particulates, which can have a high bias.
STATUS:
 A Method Development Report, Method 301 Test Program Report, and
Draft Test Method were submitted to EPA on 9/23/13.
 API has requested that EPA establish the new wet method as an “Other
Test Method” (OTM) for use by the testing community.
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Improving Ozone Measurement
• Monitoring network O3 photometers can have up to 60 ppb
bias, drift up to 20 ppb daily, and have up to a 10 ppb limit of
detection (FEM Specifications; 2013 O3 ISA, Section 3.5.3).
• Current ozone photometers are subject to interference (Spicer
et al. 2010) by humidity, mercury vapor, and substituted
arenes (e.g., aldehydes, phenols, styrenes, naphthalenes,
nitro-aromatics).
Monitor Accuracy Matters
 Monitored attainment and exposure may change
 Current air quality models evaluated against monitoring data
may perform better or worse than we think
 Modeled population exposure, dose, and risk may change
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Improving Ozone Measurement
(SpiceAir Consulting; URS; Battelle; TRJ Environmental)
API ozone monitor testing in
Houston, TX and Durham, NC
suggests two new ozone monitors
are virtually ”interference free”
with ozone measurements lower
than those recorded by
conventional photometers,
Durham study used instruments
particularly during peak ozone
mounted in rolling luggage cart
days. (Ollison et al. 2013 JAWMA 63: 855-863;
Johnson et al. 2014 JAWMA (in press)).
New drop-in gas-phase ozone scrubbers provide an inexpensive
upgrade of most ozone photometers to “interference free” monitors http://www.twobtech.com/model_GPT.htm.
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Estimating Ozone Response to US Anthropogenic
Emission Reductions Using CAMx HDDM Sensitivity
(ENVIRON International; Earth Systems Sciences)
OBJECTIVE:
• Use the CAMx High-order Decoupled Direct Method (HDDM) to assess
reductions in NOx and VOC precursor emissions needed to meet alternate
ozone NAAQS levels
BACKGROUND:
• EPA has previously considered lowering the ozone NAAQS to a level
between 60-75 ppb.
• Used 2006 US-wide modeling dataset at 12km resolution with GEOS-Chem
boundary conditions. Selected 4 cities where modeled and monitor values
corresponded well (Los Angeles; St. Louis; Philadelphia; Sacramento) for
more in-depth analysis.
STATUS:
• Analyses completed. For select cities, deep precursor cuts (>50%) are
needed to achieve 60 - 75 ppb, and net exposure is relatively
non‐responsive to changes in precursor emissions.
• Additional analyses with more recent year emissions data are planned.
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Estimating Ozone Response to US Anthropogenic
Emission Reductions Using CAMx HDDM Sensitivity
% reduction in 2006 NOx and VOC emissions
Projected emission reductions relative to 2006 necessary to achieve
a 4th highest MDA8 between 60 and 75 ppb.
100%
90%
80%
70%
4th highest MDA8
60%
60 ppb
65 ppb
50%
70 ppb
40%
75 ppb
30%
20%
10%
0%
Los Angeles, CA
Sacramento, CA
St. Louis, MO
Philadelphia, PA
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CAMx HDDM Projected Changes – St. Louis Sites
“NOx-rich” site (high
frequency of hours
with high NOx and
low ozone levels)
High ozone site
(higher frequency
of hours with high
ozone)
 Tails of hourly frequency distributions shift toward mid‐range (background
ozone)
 Up to ~ 75% reduction, annual integrated hourly O3 (ppb-hours) increases as
emissions are reduced at the NOx-rich site.
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Assessing “Background” Contributions to Total
Ozone Using CAMx Source Apportionment
(ENVIRON International)
OBJECTIVE:
• Use the CAMx Ozone Source Apportionment Tool (OSAT) to
assess “background” contributions to ozone at rural and urban
sites throughout the U.S.
BACKGROUND:
• Some areas in the country may be at or approaching background
levels of ozone.
• Examined 7 rural sites and 16 cities.
STATUS:
• Analyses completed. Some results on following slides.
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Modeled contributions from global background (tropospheric and
stratospheric O3), natural (Natr O3), and US anthropogenic (Anth O3)
sources to total O3
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Modeled contributions from global background (tropospheric and
stratospheric O3), natural (Natr O3), and US anthropogenic (Anth O3)
sources to total O3
12
Improving GHG Emissions Estimates
for Oil and Gas Operations
(URS; The Levon Group; Others)
 Two years of emissions data (2011 and 2012)
reported to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting
Program (GHGRP) facilitates focus on
highest impact source categories in the oil
and gas sector
Ongoing/Planned Projects to Improve Emissions Estimates:
1.Equipment Leaks Data Assessment and Derivation of Updated
Emission Factors
2.Flare Efficiency Data Assessment and Development of Guidance
3.Pneumatics Controllers Venting Rate Testing and Classification
4.Develop empirical equations to predict the total gas produced
during flow back with hydraulic fracturing
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Research Areas of Interest with
Potential for AQAST or Other
Government or Academic
Collaborations
NAAQS Air Quality Issues
Background Ozone and Ozone Source
Apportionment
– Contribution of stratospheric ozone
– Long range (hemispheric) transport of ozone
– Wildfire ozone impacts
– Lightning ozone impacts
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NAAQS Air Quality Issues
NAAQS Exceptional Events
- Identifying exceptional events impacting local and regional air
quality, such as stratospheric intrusions (ozone) and forest fires
(ozone and particulate matter)
- Satellite and modeling data (for example, NASA MODIS satellite
data and NRL aerosol modeling data) have been useful in
identifying exceptional events
Example data used to help identify an ozone exceptional event in Houston
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NAAQS Air Quality Issues
Models Used for Air
Permitting
Assessment of NO2 Impacts
Developing more robust and efficient
models for assessing NO2 impacts of new
or modified emission sources
Assessment of PM2.5 Impacts
Developing practical methods to assess
impacts of primary and secondary PM2.5
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NAAQS Air Quality Issues
Air Quality Monitor Instrumentation
– Pair existing monitors with newer equipment
to identify/quantify interferences and generate
more accurate ambient measurements for
NAAQS compliance and model verification
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Oil and Gas Emissions Issues
Emissions Variability
– Quantify temporal variability inherent in oil and gas operations
– Consider facility type, pad-wide and basin-wide variability
– Estimate sampling frequency and duration necessary to constrain
sources at different spatial scales (i.e. mobile lab vs. aircraft).
Satellites might be very useful here because of uniform sampling
over long periods.
Inventory Validation
- Compare estimates from inventories to other estimates of oil and
gas emissions
Inverse Model Evaluation
– Evaluate inverse models being used in “top down” oil and gas
emission studies
– Quantify model uncertainty to help better evaluate differences
between “bottom up” and “top down” inventories
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