Standards Development

Scope

The document will address periodic measurement of mass emissions of methane from diffuse sources on industrial sites. The method will cover measurement at site and unit scale.

Purpose

The measurement and quantification of methane emissions from industrial sources is becoming increasingly important. The European Commission published its Methane Strategy in 2020 as part of European Green Deal. One of the priorities under the strategy is to improve measurement and reporting of methane emissions. In particular the strategy aims to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector, with a proposal for an obligation to improve detection and repair of leaks in gas infrastructure. Many industry sectors are addressing methane emissions, with a number of commitments to report and reduce emissions, such as the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) framework. OGMP2.0 commits to improved measurements with the highest tier requiring site scale direct measurement. CEN/TC 234/WG 14 is developing a TS on a methodology for methane emissions quantification for gas transmission, distribution and storage systems and LNG terminals. Methane emissions are reportable under the EU ETS and the E-PRTR regulation and industry report emissions into UNFCC national greenhouse gas inventories.

There are currently no standardised methods for the measurement of mass emissions of methane from industrial sites. There is a method for the determination of methane emissions from stacks (EN ISO 25139:2011 Stationary source emissions – Manual method for the determination of the methane concentration using gas chromatography). However, this is not appropriate for quantifying emissions from an industrial site where the majority of emissions are diffuse. There are no standardised measurement methods for detecting and quantifying diffuse and fugitive methane emissions from industrial sites. CEN/TC 264/WG 38 has recently developed a standard method for the measurement of diffuse VOC emissions from industrial sites (prEN 17628:2020). This method was specifically developed to address the measurement requirements in the Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas BREF. While it is potentially applicable to the measurement of methane emissions it was not developed with this specific goal – the methodology has to be adapted accordingly. It is therefore necessary to develop specific standardised methods for the detection and quantification of methane emissions, at unit and site scale. This will include the development of performance standards for measurement techniques and procedures for the application of the methods. The proposal is to develop a toolkit of methods similar to prEN 17628. The document will address periodic measurement of mass emissions from a range of industrial sites.