Abstract
Anaerobic digesters provide clean, renewable
energy (biogas) by converting organic waste to methane, and are a
key part of Chinarural energy plan. Here, experimental and modeling
results are used to quantify the net greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction
from substituting a household anaerobic digester for traditional
energy sources in Sichuan, China. Tunable diode laser absorption
spectroscopy and radial plume mapping were used to estimate the
mass flux of fugitive methane emissions from active digesters.
Using household energy budgets, the net improvement in GHG
emissions associated with biogas installation was estimated using
global warming commitment (GWC) as a consolidated measure of the
warming effects of GHG emissions from cooking. In all
scenarios biogas households had lower GWC than non-biogas
households, by as much as 54%. Even biogas
households with methane leakage exhibited lower GWC than non-biogas
households, by as much as 48%. Based only on the averted GHG
emissions over 10 years, the monetary value of a biogas
installation was conservatively estimated at US$28.30 ($16.07
ton-1 CO2-eq.), which is available to partly
offset construction costs. The interaction of biogas installation
programs with policies supporting improved stoves, renewable
harvesting of biomass, and energy interventions with substantial
health co-benefits, are discussed.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents Introduction 1 Methods 2 Study area 2 Household
survey 3 Leak identification and quantification 3 Household energy
budget 5 Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming commitment 5
Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis 7 Results 8 Household survey 8
Leak measurements and flux estimation 8 Global warming commitment 9
Discussion 9 Conclusion 12 References 13 Tables and Figures 16
Figure 1. Experimental setup for plume mapping 16 Figure 2.
Reconstructed methane concentration profile at a leaking biogas
location 16 Table 1. GWC models for households with and without
biogas systems 17 Table 2. GWC as g-CO2 per 2 MJ for all modeled
households 18 Appendix A 19 Table A1. Global warming potentials
(GWP) for selected greenhouse gases 19 Table A2. Stove/fuel
pairings 19 Table A3. Reported daily energy usage from solid fuels
for cooking 19 Table A4. GWC/2 MJ to pot for non-renewable model,
with propagated uncertainty 20 A1. Scenario-Based Sensitivity
Analysis 20 Table A5. Scenario-based sensitivity analyses of
leaking BG models 21 6
About this Master's Thesis
Rights statement
- Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.
School |
|
Department |
|
Degree |
|
Submission |
|
Language |
|
Research Field |
|
关键词 |
|
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor |
|
Committee Members |
|
Partnering Agencies |
|