Total organic carbon measurements reveal major gaps in petrochemical emissions reporting

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Language of the publication
English
Date
2024-01-26
Type
Accepted manuscript
Author(s)
  • He, Megan
  • Ditto, Jenna C.
  • Gardner, Lexie
  • Machesky, Jo
  • Hass-Mitchell, Tori N.
  • Chen, Christina
  • Khare, Peeyush
  • Sahin, Bugra
  • Fortner, John D.
  • Plata, Desiree L.
  • Drollette, Brian D.
  • Hayden, Katherine L.
  • Wentzell, Jeremy J.B.
  • Mittermeier, Richard L.
  • Leithead, Amy
  • Lee, Patrick
  • Darlington, Andrea
  • Wren, Sumi N.
  • Zhang, Junhua
  • Wolde, Mengistu
  • Moussa, Samar G.
  • Li, Shao-Meng
  • Liggio, John
  • Gentner, Drew R.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Abstract

Anthropogenic organic carbon emissions reporting has been largely limited to subsets of chemically-speciated volatile organic compounds. However, novel aircraft-based measurements revealed total organic carbon emissions exceeding oil sands industry-reported values by 1900-6300%, the bulk of which was due to unaccounted-for intermediate- and semi-volatile organic compounds. Measured facility-wide emissions represented approximately 1% of extracted petroleum, resulting in total organic carbon emissions equivalent to that from all other sources across Canada combined. These real-world observations demonstrate total organic carbon measurements as a means of detecting unknown or underreported carbon emissions regardless of chemical features. Since reporting gaps may include hazardous, reactive, or secondary air pollutants, fully constraining the impact of anthropogenic emissions necessitates routine, comprehensive total gaseous organic carbon monitoring as an inherent check on mass closure.

Description

This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on Volume 383, January 2024, DOI:10.1126/science.adj6233

Subject

  • Nature and environment,
  • Science and technology

Pagination

16 pages

Peer review

Yes

Open access level

Green

Identifiers

ISSN
1095-9203
0036-8075

Article

Journal title
Science
Journal volume
383
Journal issue
6681
Accepted date
2023-12-15
Submitted date
2023-07-13

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