Methane Abatement Scheme Takes Novel Look at Engines

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--INNIO Waukesha Gas Engines (Waukesha, Wisconsin) said Wednesday it secured $2.2 million in federal funding to develop a new line of pistons that can help the fossil fuels industry lower its methane emissions.

The U.S. Energy Department unveiled a funding plan this year at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, for technology that can reduce methane emissions from the oil, natural gas and coal industries.

Rather than targeting the energy sector directly or relying on certification schemes such as Project Canary, an energy environmental, social and governance (ESG) data platform, to verify production is done responsibly, the funding will support innovations in a new line of pistons that will give gas-fired engines a lower carbon footprint.

"We believe a critical path to a cleaner energy future is providing carbon reducing enhancements for installed assets that will lead to an extended life and investment security," INNIO Chief Executive Officer Olaf Berlien said in a statement.

The Department of Energy's REMEDY program, short for Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year, is a $35 million research initiative aimed at reducing methane emissions by way of cleaning the exhaust from gas-fired engines and coal mines, cutting back on flaring and other schemes.

The funding program is something of a novel approach to cutting emissions.

Upstream, President Joe Biden introduced measures ahead of the COP26 summit that target methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Methane as a greenhouse gas has a far greater warming potential than carbon dioxide, and the fossil fuels sector accounts for 30% of total national methane emissions.

State governments under the plan, meanwhile, are called on to develop their own plans to arrest methane emissions, including those from an estimated 300,000 oil and gas well sites.

"Overall, the proposed requirements would reduce emissions from covered sources, equipment, and operations by approximately 75%," the White House stated.

New measures for the oil and gas industry proposed last month by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), meanwhile, would cut as much as 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, which is the loose equivalent of the total emissions from all U.S. passenger vehicles and commercial aircraft in 2019.

But the energy sector said it's already doing its part without new regulations. In June, months before the COP26 summit, shale natural gas producer EQT said it was already addressing the issue.

"Reducing methane emissions is a foundational component of our mission to be the operator of choice for all of our stakeholders, a responsibility we embrace as the country's largest producer of natural gas," said EQT Chief Executive Officer Toby Rice.

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