1.A.3.e i - Other Transport: Pipeline Transport

Short description

Illustration Pipeline Compressor

Under category 1.A.3.e i - Pipeline Compressors emissions from compressors in pipeline transport of natural gas are reported.

NFR Code Method AD EF
1.A.3.e i T2 NS CS

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Method(s) applied
D Default
T1 Tier 1 / Simple Methodology *
T2 Tier 2*
T3 Tier 3 / Detailed Methodology *
C CORINAIR
CS Country Specific
M Model
* as described in the EMEP/EEA Emission Inventory Guidebook - 2019, in category chapters.
(source for) Activity Data
NS National Statistics
RS Regional Statistics
IS International Statistics
PS Plant Specific
As Associations, business organisations
Q specific Questionnaires (or surveys)
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential
(source for) Emission Factors
D Default (EMEP Guidebook)
CS Country Specific
PS Plant Specific
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential

NOx NMVOC SO2 NH3 PM2.5 PM10 TSP BC CO Pb Cd Hg Additional HM POPs
-/- -/- -/- NA -/- -/- -/- NE -/- NA NA -/- NA NA

Click to view Legend

Click to hide Legend

Method(s) applied
D Default
T1 Tier 1 / Simple Methodology *
T2 Tier 2*
T3 Tier 3 / Detailed Methodology *
C CORINAIR
CS Country Specific
M Model
* as described in the EMEP/EEA Emission Inventory Guidebook - 2019, in category chapters.
(source for) Activity Data
NS National Statistics
RS Regional Statistics
IS International Statistics
PS Plant Specific
As Associations, business organisations
Q specific Questionnaires (or surveys)
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential
(source for) Emission Factors
D Default (EMEP Guidebook)
CS Country Specific
PS Plant Specific
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential

Methodology

Activity data

In past years, statistical fuel consumption data from the National Energy Balances for Germany was used (AGEB, 2021)1). But a comparison with data from German ETS (available as of 2005) exposed several inconsistencies within these statistics.

Therefore, as the fuel consumption of a compressor station depends strongly on the amount of transferred natural gas, a conversion factor was derived reflecting the relation between the fuel consumption of all compressor stations and the primary energy consumption of natural gas within Germany. Using this conversion factor, the insufficient statistical data could be replaced by much more solid estimates for the years 1990 to 2004 whereas for 2005+ the abovementioned ETS data is used.

Table 1: Consumption of natural gas in compressor stations, in [tJ]

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
19,449 23,740 25,324 26,501 21,021 22,026 18,737 22,422 23,856 21,417 13,748 14,990 23,623

Emission factors

The emission factors for pipeline comporessors have been taken from the research project “Determination and evaluation of emission factors for combustion systems in Germany for the years 1995, 2000 and 2010” (DFIU, 2002)2). A detailed description of the procedure is presented in Chapter: 1.A.1.a - Public Electricity And Heat Production. In 2018 and 2019 emission factors were revised by using emission data from large combustion plants (UBA, 2019)3).

Compressor stations, in Germany mostly gasturbines, are responsible for maintaining a constant pressure in the pipline. Basically they work discontinuously which causes relatively high specific emissions. In order to reflect this point the German law allows exemptions for installations with a low level of utilization.

Table 2: EF used for 2022 emission estimates, in kg/TJ

SOx NOx TSP CO
0.14 62.18 0.4 35

Trend discussion for Key Sources

The following diagram gives an overview of the fuel consumption in NFR 1.A.3.e

Annual natural gas consumption

Since 1990 natural gas consumption has shown an increasing overall trend. Annual fluctuations are due to the varying primary energy consumption. The maximum fuel consumption occured in 2006, the year with the so far highest German total primary energy consumption of natural gas. Thereafter, natural gas consumption decreases considerably.

Recalculations

For the purpose of improving the data quality National Energy Balances for the years 2003 to 2021 have gone under revisions through fine-tuning of the computational models, consideration of new statistics or re-allocation of activity data, along with other revision mechanisms. These updates led to re-calculations in fuel uses in different sub-categories and in their corresponding emissions.

For pollutant-specific information on recalculated emission estimates for Base Year and 2021, please see the recalculation tables following chapter 8.1 - Recalculations.

Planned improvements

Currently no further improvements are planned.


1) Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen (Hrsg.): Energiebilanz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland; URL: https://ag-energiebilanzen.de/en/data-and-facts/energy-balance-2000-to-2019/
2) Rentz, O.; Karl, U.; Peter, H.: Ermittlung und Evaluierung von Emissionsfaktoren für Feuerungsanlagen in Deutschland für die Jahre 1995, 2000 und 2010; Forschungsbericht 299 43 142 im Auftrag des Umweltbundesamtes; Dezember 2002.
3) Kristina Juhrich, Rolf Beckers: “Updating the Emission Factors for Large Combustion Plants”: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/updating-emission-factors-large-combustion-plants