Continuous quantification of methane emission reductions achieved by passive methane oxidation biosystems (PMOB)

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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.