Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite Observations

Pankaj Sadavarte; Sudhanshu Pandey; Joannes D. Maasakkers; Alba Lorente; Tobias Borsdorff; Hugo Denier van der Gon; Sander Houweling; Ilse Aben

doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c03976

Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite Observations

Pankaj Sadavarte^*, Sudhanshu Pandey, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Sander Houweling, Ilse Aben

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

208 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Two years of satellite observations were used to quantify methane emissions from coal mines in Queensland, the largest coal-producing state in Australia. The six analyzed surface and underground coal mines are estimated to emit 570 ± 98 Gg a^–1 in 2018–2019. Together, they account for 7% of the national coal production while emitting 55 ± 10% of the reported methane emission from coal mining in Australia. Our results indicate that for two of the three locations, our satellite-based estimates are significantly higher than reported to the Australian government. Most remarkably, 40% of the quantified emission came from a single surface mine (Hail Creek) located in a methane-rich coal basin. Our findings call for increased monitoring and investment in methane recovery technologies for both surface and underground mines.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	16573-16580
Number of pages	8
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology
Volume	55
Issue number	24
Early online date	29 Nov 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c03976
Publication status	Published - 21 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, and the TROPOMI national program through NSO. P.S. and S.P. are funded through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, which is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). A.L. and T.B. acknowledge funding from the TROPOMI national program through NSO.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

Funding

This work was supported through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, and the TROPOMI national program through NSO. P.S. and S.P. are funded through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, which is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). A.L. and T.B. acknowledge funding from the TROPOMI national program through NSO.

Keywords

emission inventory
source rate
superemitters
surface mines
underground mines

Access to Document

10.1021/acs.est.1c03976

acs.est.1c03976_Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite ObservationsFinal published version, 3 MBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{9251719b11f34752bd40a715b8e4ffdd,

title = "Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite Observations",

abstract = "Two years of satellite observations were used to quantify methane emissions from coal mines in Queensland, the largest coal-producing state in Australia. The six analyzed surface and underground coal mines are estimated to emit 570 ± 98 Gg a–1 in 2018–2019. Together, they account for 7% of the national coal production while emitting 55 ± 10% of the reported methane emission from coal mining in Australia. Our results indicate that for two of the three locations, our satellite-based estimates are significantly higher than reported to the Australian government. Most remarkably, 40% of the quantified emission came from a single surface mine (Hail Creek) located in a methane-rich coal basin. Our findings call for increased monitoring and investment in methane recovery technologies for both surface and underground mines.",

keywords = "emission inventory, source rate, superemitters, surface mines, underground mines",

author = "Pankaj Sadavarte and Sudhanshu Pandey and Maasakkers, {Joannes D.} and Alba Lorente and Tobias Borsdorff and {Denier van der Gon}, Hugo and Sander Houweling and Ilse Aben",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, and the TROPOMI national program through NSO. P.S. and S.P. are funded through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, which is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). A.L. and T.B. acknowledge funding from the TROPOMI national program through NSO. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society",

year = "2021",

month = dec,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1021/acs.est.1c03976",

language = "English",

volume = "55",

pages = "16573--16580",

journal = "Environmental Science and Technology",

issn = "0013-936X",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "24",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite Observations

AU - Sadavarte, Pankaj

AU - Pandey, Sudhanshu

AU - Maasakkers, Joannes D.

AU - Lorente, Alba

AU - Borsdorff, Tobias

AU - Denier van der Gon, Hugo

AU - Houweling, Sander

AU - Aben, Ilse

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, and the TROPOMI national program through NSO. P.S. and S.P. are funded through the GALES project (#15597) by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, which is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). A.L. and T.B. acknowledge funding from the TROPOMI national program through NSO. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

PY - 2021/12/21

Y1 - 2021/12/21

N2 - Two years of satellite observations were used to quantify methane emissions from coal mines in Queensland, the largest coal-producing state in Australia. The six analyzed surface and underground coal mines are estimated to emit 570 ± 98 Gg a–1 in 2018–2019. Together, they account for 7% of the national coal production while emitting 55 ± 10% of the reported methane emission from coal mining in Australia. Our results indicate that for two of the three locations, our satellite-based estimates are significantly higher than reported to the Australian government. Most remarkably, 40% of the quantified emission came from a single surface mine (Hail Creek) located in a methane-rich coal basin. Our findings call for increased monitoring and investment in methane recovery technologies for both surface and underground mines.

AB - Two years of satellite observations were used to quantify methane emissions from coal mines in Queensland, the largest coal-producing state in Australia. The six analyzed surface and underground coal mines are estimated to emit 570 ± 98 Gg a–1 in 2018–2019. Together, they account for 7% of the national coal production while emitting 55 ± 10% of the reported methane emission from coal mining in Australia. Our results indicate that for two of the three locations, our satellite-based estimates are significantly higher than reported to the Australian government. Most remarkably, 40% of the quantified emission came from a single surface mine (Hail Creek) located in a methane-rich coal basin. Our findings call for increased monitoring and investment in methane recovery technologies for both surface and underground mines.

KW - emission inventory

KW - source rate

KW - superemitters

KW - surface mines

KW - underground mines

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111444365&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111444365&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03976

DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03976

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111444365

SN - 0013-936X

VL - 55

SP - 16573

EP - 16580

JO - Environmental Science and Technology

JF - Environmental Science and Technology

IS - 24

ER -

Methane Emissions from Superemitting Coal Mines in Australia Quantified Using TROPOMI Satellite Observations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this