| Project Detail |
REMEDY (Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year) aims to reduce methane emissions from three sources in the oil, gas, and coal value chains: (1) exhaust from 50,000 natural gas-fired lean-burn engines used to drive compressors, generate electricity, and increasingly repower ships, (2) the estimated 300,000 flares required for safe operation of oil and gas facilities, and (3) coal mine ventilation of air and methane exhausted from 250 operating underground mines. These sources are responsible for at least 10% of U.S. anthropogenic methane emissions. Reducing emissions of methane, which has a high greenhouse gas warming potential, will ameliorate climate change. The intent is to de-risk and identify economies of scale for the proposed systems so they can advance to commercialization.
Project Innovation + Advantages:
Marquette University will enable an innovative combustion technology for lean-burn (high air-fuel ratio) natural gas engines to potentially reduce the amount of methane slip—or methane in the inlet fuel stream that escapes to the atmosphere—to 0.25% of the inlet fuel stream. The 0.25% target would represent a 90% reduction from current levels. The proposed system aims to achieve a non-premixed, mixing-controlled combustion process with natural gas in a lean-burn engine through an actively fueled prechamber. Simulations have shown that this non-premixed combustion system yields a 10-fold reduction in methane slip compared with a conventional lean-burn natural gas engine. This system could be retrofitted to existing lean-burn engines or as a new engine technology. The proposed concept will deliver a transformational reduction in methane slip while meeting site-specific targets for criteria pollutants, reliability, and durability. It also provides a pathway to a transformational reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions as a new engine technology via significant increases in efficiency.
Potential Impact:
REMEDY addresses methane emissions from domestic oil, gas, and coal value chains, accounting for 78% of U.S. primary energy. |
