AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Air Quality Implications of Replacing Natural Gas with Biomethane in Vehicles and Home Appliances
YIN LI, Jian Xue, Chris Alaimo, Joshua Peppers, Peter Green, Norman Kado, Minji Kim, Christoph Vogel, Ruihong Zhang, Thomas Young, Michael Kleeman, University of California, Davis
Abstract Number: 652 Working Group: Combustion
Abstract Biomethane is a renewable fuel produced from bacterial degradation of biomass under anaerobic condition that has great potential to be widely used in California. Compared to traditional fossil fuels, the use of biomethane helps reduce GHG emission and contributes to the overall carbon balance. Biomethane and traditional natural gas have comparable energy values, but biomethane contains trace compounds that are not present in natural gas. The health effects of the residual trace compounds must be fully analyzed before biomethane can be widely adopted as a fuel for use in industry, transportation, and residential applications.
In this study, the chemical composition and potential health impacts of biomethane and its combustion products were compared with those of natural gas. Three different biomethane sources and two different natural gas sources were collected and analyzed to characterize potential air pollution resulting from fugitive emission. Biomethane and natural gas were then used as fuel for a cargo van. Tailpipe emission was injected into a 5.5 m3 photochemical chamber to study the final products after atmospheric aging under both dark and light conditions. Finally, biomethane and natural gas were used in a residential water heater and a cooking range to study their exhaust either after atmospheric aging (water heater) or after releasing into indoor environment (cooking range). Gas and particle samples were collected on a wide variety of sampling media to support comprehensive analysis for each of the scenario described above. Results from chemical, biological and toxicological analysis will be presented, and the air quality and human health implications of widely adopting biomethane as a substitute for natural gas will be discussed.