UW Center for Air Quality Collaborates With CSU on Methane Project

The Center for Air Quality (CAQ) at the University of Wyoming will help conduct research to accurately depict methane emissions from oil and gas supply chains in Wyoming and Colorado basins.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management recently selected the Colorado State University (CSU) Energy Institute’s Methane Emissions Program to lead the project.

With intentions to advance innovative methane measurement, monitoring and mitigation technologies, the collaborative team of CSU, UW and Penn State University aims to demonstrate that high-frequency sampling can be used to create inventory emissions estimates that accurately represent emissions in a basin.

While the project will focus on the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado, an important component will be to demonstrate that the methods developed in one basin can be replicated in other basins with equal success. UW’s CAQ project team plans to lead a secondary study under the scope of the project in Wyoming’s Upper Green River Basin to demonstrate the relevance and applicability of the approach. The CAQ has long-standing relationships with Wyoming natural gas producers in the Upper Green.

UW’s School of Energy Resources (SER) is providing the cost share to help enable the expanded scope.

“We are excited to be a part of this project, and we are eager to conduct the Wyoming-focused research in this proposal,” says Shane Murphy, CAQ director and an associate professor of atmospheric science. “This research is both relevant and timely, as the results will provide the methodological underpinning required by current and contemplated certified gas programs -- and will help us to implement key field processes required for any of the integrated methane monitoring platforms that may be developed.”

The CAQ is a faculty-led Center of Excellence supported by SER. Led by researchers in the UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences’ Department of Atmospheric Science, the center conducts important energy and economic development research that benefits the state by quantifying, modeling and enabling reductions of emissions associated with energy production. The center often works to understand how emissions from oil and gas extraction impact air quality in the Mountain West.

Research conducted by the CAQ in collaboration with Wyoming natural gas producers such as Jonah Energy and PureWest has been beneficial in establishing a pathway to verified emissions measurement at both a source and an overall site level -- a requirement for oil and gas operators to achieve a Gold Standard rating from the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership initiative.

Recently, both Jonah Energy and PureWest have announced deals for differentiated natural gas, and both producers will participate as partners on this project.

“The Department of Atmospheric Science in the University of Wyoming’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, and the Center for Air Quality, have long made important contributions to understanding how best to measure and mitigate methane and greenhouse gas emissions,” says Cameron Wright, the Carrell Family Dean in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. “We are happy to be a partner in this important project.”

Since 2009, researchers in the CAQ have investigated the importance of emissions in the Upper Green River Basin, particularly in the Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline development areas, with the use of a mobile air quality laboratory. With the ability to conduct fieldwork to survey methane emissions at multiple sites, the work has resulted in numerous academic publications and has supported state-led efforts to better understand wintertime ozone formation and basinwide emissions of methane.

“Wyoming natural gas has an important part to play in the nation’s energy mix,” says SER Executive Director Holly Krutka. “We are proud to support the Center for Air Quality for its continued research excellence that translates into positive outcomes and continued production of Wyoming natural gas. This project is a great example of how SER was able to support CAQ to expand research into Wyoming that would have otherwise only been undertaken in Colorado.”