Characterizing Emissions from California Biomethane Facilities
Characterizing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from a variety of waste management activities that produce biomethane.
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Recipient
Palo Alto, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
23rd
Assembly District
$697,124
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The research team submitted a Monitoring Plan Report that summarized the relevant facility and process details, defined the conditions for which emissions monitoring will occur, and the instrumentation and measurement techniques to be used for emissions monitoring. Measurement of methane and criteria pollutants has been completed at the Yolo County Central Landfill, City of Davis Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Napa Composting Facility. The researchers measured all pre-modification emissions and partly completed the post-modification emissions campaigns at the dairy site. Three of five expected manuscripts are in review stage with the research team; composting manuscripts are nearly ready for submission to peer-reviewd scientific journals. Data analysis is being conducted at a steady pace. A Technical Advisory Committee meeting was held in February 2025 to obtain feedback on preliminary results across all sites.
The Issue
Biomethane production is an important technology that can increase the diversity of renewable energy resources and tackle the challenges of short-lived climate pollutants such as methane. It is crucial to enable identification and characterization of climate and air quality impacts of biomethane projects. However, only limited data exist from real-world operating facilities both before and after implementation of production facilities, and emissions reductions resulting from those processes are not well quantified on an annual basis. A methodical assessment of potential sources and amounts of fugitive emissions must be performed and incorporated into facility emission rate calculations.
Project Innovation
The Recipient is characterizing emissions of GHGs and other pollutants from a variety of waste management activities that produce biomethane such as aerobic composting, anaerobic digestion, and digestate aeration systems at a landfill; processes at a wastewater treatment facility; and a dairy lagoon and anaerobic digester. The team will perform these tasks both before and after project implementation, with additional focus on potential fugitive emissions. The results will be analyzed, emissions factors will be quantified, and recommendations will be formulated for future waste management practices and research.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project is identifying and quantifying emissions before and after biomethane production facilities and processes are implemented. Innovative monitoring platforms (e.g., a mobile air quality laboratory housed in a truck, unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with light detection and ranging, a floating wind tunnel for lagoon emissions) and multiple monitoring methods (e.g., flux chambers, flux curtain methods, volatile organic carbon ratios for speciated emissions to fully characterize the desired emissions) are being used in this project. Additionally, the team will calculate indirect emissions resulting from electricity use. The resulting project-wide advancement will be the creation of robust and defensible emission estimates before and after biomethane production facility and/or process implementation. This will inform economic development activities supporting biomethane demonstration projects and improve environmental sustainability.
Environmental Sustainability
This project's results will support initiatives such as California's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy and air pollutant emission reductions by establishing a pre-project emission baseline for a diversity of common types of biomethane renewable gas production sites. The project will investigate the potential for point, area, and fugitive emissions at these sites and quantify the air quality and climate pollutant impacts of biomethane project develop
Safety
This project will help determine the amount of potential GHG emission mitigation possible from biomethane capture, in support of SB 1371 and CPUC Rulemaking 15-01-008, which requires minimization of natural gas leaks from pipelines to reduce hazards and ensure public safety.
Key Project Members
Stephanie Shaw
Subrecipients
The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the Davis Campus
University of Delaware
Bridger Photonics
Match Partners
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
University of Delaware
Bridger Photonics
