Grant: Alliance Grants
Université de Sherbrooke
$353,050.00
Continuous quantification of methane emission reductions achieved by passive methane oxidation biosystems (PMOB)
FY 2022-23
Summary
During the COP21 summit, methane (CH4) was often referred to as the "low hanging fruit". The CH4 global warming potential on a 20-year basis (our last window before exceeding a global temperature increase of 2° C) is approximately 86 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2). To achieve Canada's carbon neutrality objective, not only must CH4 emissions be reduced substantially, but promising technologies need to be deployed quickly, at the lowest possible cost, throughout the economy. Our project builds on scientific emission abatement capacity and monitoring to meet ambitious GHG mitigation goals. Passive methane oxidation biosystems (PMOBs) are effective, low construction, operation, and maintenance cost technologies that can be adopted quickly. They were identified in the 4th IPCC report as very promising, and this has been confirmed in myriad published studies. In a nutshell: CH4 passing through a biofilter is oxidized into CO2 by ubiquitous bacteria. The PI has designed, installed and monitored 20 PMOBs in the last 16 years. Their adoption by end users, such as municipalities, landfill operators, and agricultural waste managers, requires two final fundamental steps: continuous quantification of emissions and technical economical assessment. These are the main goals of the project and why the partnership was created. The field-scale experiment we are proposing will make it possible to calculate CH4 and carbon mass balances continuously (thereby confirming the excellent CH4 abatement efficiencies we have obtained based on spot checks) and assess the feasibility of PMOBs for different economic sectors. Analytical expertise by the co-PI (emerging researcher) will be fundamental in installing a robust monitoring system. Evidence generated by the project, combined with spot surface flux measurements, will lead to a greater level of credibility of PMOBs, reducing barriers to their wider adoption and deployment, and paving the road to inclusion of CH4 oxidation in carbon credit schemes. This would benefit several end users, including our diverse partnership, which includes consultancies, operators and municipalities.
Program
Alliance Grants
Recipient
Location
Quebec, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
577053-2022
Name nom
Cabral, Alexandre AR
Department département
Génie civil
Organization id
68
Institution établissement
Université de Sherbrooke
Province en
Québec
Province fr
Québec
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2022
Competition year année de concours
2022
Award amount
353050
Program id
ALLRP
Program name en
Alliance Grants
Program name fr
Subventions Alliance
Group en
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
Group fr
PARTENARIATS DE RECHERCHE
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
1002
Area of application group en
Northern development
Area of application group fr
Développement du nord
Area of application en
Environment
Area of application fr
Environnement
Research subject code
1500
Research subject group en
Environmental engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie de l'environnement
Research subject en
Environmental engineering
Research subject fr
Génie de l'environnement
Installment
inst:1;2
Partie
2
Nb partie
2
Application title
Continuous quantification of methane emission reductions achieved by passive methane oxidation biosystems (PMOB)
Application summary
During the COP21 summit, methane (CH4) was often referred to as the "low hanging fruit". The CH4 global warming potential on a 20-year basis (our last window before exceeding a global temperature increase of 2° C) is approximately 86 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2). To achieve Canada's carbon neutrality objective, not only must CH4 emissions be reduced substantially, but promising technologies need to be deployed quickly, at the lowest possible cost, throughout the economy. Our project builds on scientific emission abatement capacity and monitoring to meet ambitious GHG mitigation goals. Passive methane oxidation biosystems (PMOBs) are effective, low construction, operation, and maintenance cost technologies that can be adopted quickly. They were identified in the 4th IPCC report as very promising, and this has been confirmed in myriad published studies. In a nutshell: CH4 passing through a biofilter is oxidized into CO2 by ubiquitous bacteria. The PI has designed, installed and monitored 20 PMOBs in the last 16 years. Their adoption by end users, such as municipalities, landfill operators, and agricultural waste managers, requires two final fundamental steps: continuous quantification of emissions and technical economical assessment. These are the main goals of the project and why the partnership was created. The field-scale experiment we are proposing will make it possible to calculate CH4 and carbon mass balances continuously (thereby confirming the excellent CH4 abatement efficiencies we have obtained based on spot checks) and assess the feasibility of PMOBs for different economic sectors. Analytical expertise by the co-PI (emerging researcher) will be fundamental in installing a robust monitoring system. Evidence generated by the project, combined with spot surface flux measurements, will lead to a greater level of credibility of PMOBs, reducing barriers to their wider adoption and deployment, and paving the road to inclusion of CH4 oxidation in carbon credit schemes. This would benefit several end users, including our diverse partnership, which includes consultancies, operators and municipalities.
