Emission Control Costs Research Articles

GREEN ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN INDUSTRIES: A STUDY OF SELECTED OIL AND GAS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

This study investigated the effect of Green Accounting on the financial performance of selected oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: investigate the effect of emission control cost, the effect of renewable energy cost, and the effect of pollution remediation costs control on the financial performance of selected oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study adopted ex post facto research design and the panel least squares regression technique. The study found that: emission control cost with coefficient (421.2015) and p-value (0.0022) has significant positive effect on the return on capital of selected listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria; pollution control cost with Coefficient of 2.018446 and p-value of 0.0000, has positive significant effect on the return on capital of selected listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria and that renewable cost energy with coefficient (80.40683) and p-value (0.0056) has significant positive effect on the return on capital of selected listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study concluded that Green accounting has significant positive effect on the financial performance of selected oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were put forward: the oil and gas firms should prioritize Green Accounting as a significant component of their management process, the firms should adopt management practice, and as well adopt the pollution remediation, emission control and renewable energy control costs accounting in their production accounting model.

Assessing the effectiveness of PM2.5 pollution control from the perspective of interprovincial transport and PM2.5 mitigation costs across China

Due to the transboundary nature of air pollutants, a province's efforts to improve air quality can reduce PM2.5 concentration in the surrounding area. The inter-provincial PM2.5 pollution transport could bring great challenges to related environmental management work, such as financial fund allocation and subsidy policy formulation. Herein, we examined the transport characteristics of PM2.5 pollution across provinces in 2013 and 2020 via chemical transport modeling and then monetized inter-provincial contributions of PM2.5 improvement based on pollutant emission control costs. We found that approximately 60% of the PM2.5 pollution was from local sources, while the remaining 40% originated from outside provinces. Furthermore, about 1011 billion RMB of provincial air pollutant abatement costs contributed to the PM2.5 concentration decline in other provinces during 2013–2020, accounting for 41.2% of the total abatement costs. Provinces with lower unit improvement costs for PM2.5, such as Jiangsu, Hebei, and Shandong, were major contributors, while Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, bearing higher unit costs, were among the main beneficiaries. Our study identifies provinces that contribute to air quality improvement in other provinces, have high economic efficiency, and provide a quantitative framework for determining inter-provincial compensations. This study also reveals the uneven distribution of pollution abatement costs (PM2.5 improvement/abatement costs) due to transboundary PM2.5 transport, calling for adopting inter-provincial economic compensation policies. Such mechanisms ensure equitable cost-sharing and effective regional air quality management.

ROLE OF METHANE IN CLIMATE CHANGE AND OPTIONS FOR MITIGATION-A BRIEF REVIEW

CH4 is a powerful greenhouse gas. It is present in the atmosphere in very low concentrations. Nevertheless, it is the third most important greenhouse gas after water vapour and carbon dioxide (CO2). Water vapour is present in variable amounts. CO2 contributes about 50% to the enhanced greenhouse effect, CH4 about 15-20% and nitrous oxide (N2O) about 6%. Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon and the primary component of natural gas. Methane is also a potent and abundant greenhouse gas (GHG), which makes it a significant contributor to climate change, especially in the near term (i.e., 10–15 years). Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and from the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills and certain wastewater treatment systems. Methane is the second most abundant GHG after carbon dioxide (CO2), accounting for 14 percent of global emissions. Though methane is emitted into the atmosphere in smaller quantities than CO2, its global warming potential (i.e., the ability of the gas to trap heat in the atmosphere) is 25 times greater. As a result, methane emissions currently contribute more than one-third of today’s anthropogenic warming
 In this study an integrated assessment is performed of the contribution of methane to climate change especially from agricultural fields and the options for methane control. The main aim of the study was to analyze future trends in global methane emissions, the associated climate change, and the costs of emission control in terms of agricultural surface methane emissions.

Co-benefits of air pollution control and climate change mitigation strategies in Pakistan

Pakistan’s urban air pollution is among the world's worst, wreaking havoc on public health and the economy. Although the country’s environmental protection act and the climate change act recognize the dual challenges of air pollution and climate change, it lacks an integrated national strategy to manage both simultaneously. Based on simulations with the GAINS model (an integrated assessment model) through soft coupling with the EnerNEO Pakistan model (an energy-economic model), we assess the benefits of climate policies and air pollution control measures on air quality and public health for Pakistan under the baseline and alternative scenarios. Our results reveal that Pakistan's current air pollution control measures are insufficient to meet the country's air quality standards under the baseline scenario. Implementing sustainable development strategies will reduce nationwide PM2.5-related mortalities by 24% in 2050 compared to the baseline. While advanced control measures have the potential to improve air quality and human health in Pakistan, when combined with national sustainable development strategies, they have the potential to halve greenhouse gas emissions (implementing SDG 13 indicator on climate action) and save on emission control costs approximately by a quarter (0.32% of GDP) by 2050. This appears to be a significant co-benefit in terms of air quality (environmental), health (social), and cost (economic), implying that Pakistan's future policymaking should prioritize cost-effective co-control of air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Relation analysis on emission control and economic cost of SCR system for marine diesels

In order to meet the IMO Tier III emissions regulations and reduce environmental pollution, many ocean-going vessels have installed the marine SCR system to reduce NOx emissions. However, the investment cost and operation cost of the marine SCR system, as well as the factors affecting the SCR cost are still the problems that need to be studied. In this paper, MAN S46 diesel engine matched SCR system was taken as the research object, and a cost calculation model of Marine SCR system based on cost analysis method has been proposed. The relationship between SCR system cost and some factors such as unit capacity, unit running time and inlet NOx concentration have been analyzed. The research we have done suggests that operating time, NOx inlet concentration, and emission limits are the three main important factors in the operating cost of an SCR system. Among the various secondary costs of operating costs, the reducing agent cost, fuel increase cost, and indirect annual cost account for 60%, 24%, and 7%, respectively. Moreover, the results suggest that the unit denitration cost of the matched SCR system is highly affected by the power of the diesel engine and annual running time. This study demonstrated clearly the relationship between emission control and economic cost of SCR system for marine diesels and was expected to provide a theoretical basis for sustainable development in marine environmental protection policies.

Performance evaluation of diesel–additives ternary fuel blends: An experimental investigation, numerical simulation using hybrid Entropy–TOPSIS method and economic analysis

Research in the field of alternative, clean and renewable bio-fuels has increased dramatically in recent years for performance improvement, emission control and running cost reduction in internal combustion engines due to continuously increasing prices of conventional fuels, depletion of fossil fuels and environmental protection. In this work, a direct injection VCR diesel engine was used in experimental investigations for determining the combustion characteristics of D–NM–DEE blends at different compression ratios. By exhaust emission and performance analysis of the diesel engine at peak load and standard compression ratio (18.5), D–NM2.5–DEE7.5 (nitromethane 2.5%, diethyl ether 7.5% and diesel 90%) blend was identified as the best fuel blend among all fuel blends and pure diesel. Furthermore, all the considered fuels with different CR at peak load were ranked by the Entropy–TOPSIS method. From the analysis, D–NM2.5–DEE7.5 at CR–19.5 (ranked first with RCi-0.922231) was found as the best fuel blend among all fuel blends and different compression ratios considered with similar experimental conditions. By the comparison of the best fuel blend (D–NM2.5–DEE7.5 at CR 19.5) with pure diesel (at standard CR 18.5), a significant improvement in engine performance, and reduction in emission and fuel cost was achieved.

Air transport carbon reduction optimization based on low carbon emissions

Nowadays, with the deepening of environmental protection concept, low-carbon transportation has gradually become the mainstream trend, the environmental cost of airport emissions research will gradually arouse social concern. Real low-carbon transport has become a country to achieve low-carbon energy saving, win the low-carbon war, sustainable development of the only way. Through the analysis of transportation costs and carbon emission costs related to aviation networks, reference to domestic and foreign calculation methods for carbon emissions environmental costs, the establishment of airport environmental cost model, through the analysis of pollutant components to reduce the cost of emission control, so as to reduce operating costs and achieve carbon emission reduction.

Prediction of Emissions and Profits from a Biomass, Tyre, and Coal Fired Co-Gasification CHP Plant Using Artificial Neural Network: Nigerian and South African Perspectives

The local sourcing of feedstock for energy generation will reduce costs in the power plant, and promote energy sustainability. Most times, potential investors in this area show interest about understanding the profitability of the business because, the information boosts the confidence of the investors in the project, and gives them the opportunity of making a short and long term plans about the business. The emissions arising from the energy plant is an important aspect of the venture that requires proper attention, otherwise the costs of emission control may consume a greater part of the profit, hence rendering the business un-viable. Nigeria and South Africa (SA) have abundant biomass (e.g. corn cob, sugarcane bagasse, & pine saw dust) coal and tyre that can be used as fuel in an energy plant. A 10 MW CHP plant was fired with coal and biomass, and tyre obtained from Nigeria and South Africa (SA) respectively, at ratios of 1:1, 3:2, and 4:1 to study the emissions and profits in the plant. An empirical model was employed to estimate the annual amount of feedstock and feed rate required for the plant, after which, an artificial neural network (ANN); Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was used to predict the emissions and profits in the plant for 20-year-investment period with feedstock costing (WFC) and without feedstock costing (WOFC). The profit obtained from the South African feedstock, WFC and WOFC; produced about 45.18 % and 36.83 % ($3, 900, 000.07 and $3, 179, 184.49) higher profits than the Nigerian feedstock, but the CO, NOX, & SO2 emissions from Nigerian feedstock were lower than that of SA. The findings from this study could be used as a platform for decision making by potential investors and stake-holders, and further research and development in the area.

On the Flexible Operation of Supercritical Circulating Fluidized Bed: Burning Carbon Based Decentralized Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Supercritical circulating fluidized bed (CFB) is one of the prominent clean coal technologies owing to the advantages of high efficiency, fuel flexibility, and low cost of emission control. The fast and flexible load-tracking performance of the supercritical CFB boiler-turbine unit presents a promising prospect in facilitating the sustainability of the power systems. However, features such as large inertia, strong nonlinearity, and multivariable coupling make it a challenging task to harmonize the boiler’s slow dynamics with the turbine’s fast dynamics. To improve the operational flexibility of the supercritical CFB unit, a burning carbon based decentralized active disturbance rejection control is proposed. Since burning carbon in the furnace responds faster than throttle steam pressure when the fuel flow rate changes, it is utilized to compensate the dynamics of the corresponding loop. The parameters of the controllers are tuned by optimizing the weighted integrated absolute error index of each loop via genetic algorithm. Simulations of the proposed method on a 600 MW supercritical CFB unit verify the merits of load following and disturbance rejection in terms of less settling time and overshoot.

Inter-Organizational Control of Low-Carbon Production in a Supply Chain

Increasing consumers’ environmental awareness has drawn more firms’ attention to low-carbon production. CO2 emission management control is a critical factor in the process of low-carbon production in a supply chain. Such kind of inter-organizational control includes two different strategies: the emission control and emission reduction. Those two strategies have different influences on the performance of the supply chain. This paper uses the differential method to study the Stackelberg game between a manufacturer and a supplier in four situations: (1) the non-cooperative situation where no coordination is considered; (2) the weak incentive situation where the emission control incentive is considered; (3) the strong incentive situation where both the emission control incentive and the emission reduction incentive are considered; (4) the cooperative situation where the cooperation is considered. Optimal inter-organizational control of the emission control efforts, emission reduction efforts and cost subsidy are solved and discussed. The results show that although the emission control cost lower, its positive effect on the supply chain performance is still limited. Both the supplier and the manufacturer have the Pareto improvements from the non-cooperative situation to the cooperative situation in sequence. Finally, the simulations and sensitivity analyses are conducted to support the models. Our study provides theoretical insights to the optimal control of low-carbon production in an inter-organizational setting.

Investment perspectives on costs for air pollution control affect the optimal use of emission control measures

Cost-effective air pollution emission control has been in focus for decades in international air pollution regulations. Despite large observed emission reductions for many air pollutants, environmental and human health problems persist and more efforts are needed. However, some stakeholders are concerned that the costs for remaining emission control measures are prohibitively high. There are several reasons for concern, and one can be the difference in investment perspectives—i.e. costs of borrowing and time constraints—held by stakeholders. By using the integrated assessment model GAINS, we study whether differences in investment perspectives of Nordic stakeholders influence measures selected for cost-effective emission control and can motivate concerns for high costs of emission control. We distinguish the control cost calculations between a social planner perspective and a corporate perspective and apply these to the GAINS model database on emission control measures. A cost-minimized selection of measures in 2030 is then calculated for increasing environmental and health ambitions for both perspectives. The results show an irregular pattern, but for a range of ambition levels the corporate perspective affects the selection of measures and implies surplus costs for the Nordic social planner of up to 120 million € per year. This is 36% more expensive than the costs of the social planners’ selection. Conversely, from a corporate perspective the social planners’ selection can imply cost increases of up to 180 million €. We therefore suggest that control of investment perspective effects should be standard in analysis of cost-effective air pollution measures.Graphical abstract

The costs and benefits of a nitrogen emission control area in the Baltic and North Seas

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the socio-economic justification of implementing a Nitrogen Emission Control Area (NECA), starting 2021, for ships in the Baltic Sea and/or the North Sea and English Channel. We analyse the potential for emission reduction, emission control costs, and monetised benefits following the introduction of a NECA. Costs and benefits are compared for 2030. We compile new data on emission control costs for shipping, use the GAINS model for calculations of emission dispersion, and the Alpha-RiskPoll model for estimating monetary values of health impacts. The model results show that costs to conform to the NOX regulations of a NECA in the Baltic Sea, North Sea or both sea regions would be 111 (100–123), 181 (157–209), and 230 (195–273) million € per year, respectively. Corresponding benefits from reduced emissions are estimated to be 139 (56–294), 869 (335–1882), and 1007 (392–2177) million € per year, respectively. Calculated benefits surpass costs for most scenarios, but less convincingly for a Baltic Sea NECA. Conforming to the NECA regulations by using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) propulsion engines is estimated to give the highest net benefits but also the largest variation (costs: 153 (88–238), benefits: 1556 (49–3795) million €/year). The variations are mainly due to uncertainties in the valuation of avoided fatalities and climate impacts. It is concluded that the NECAs for the Baltic and North Seas can be justified using CBA under all but extreme assumptions.

EMISSION INTENSITY AND ABATEMENT COST OF FOSSIL FUEL POWER PLANTS IN THAILAND

Monitoring of air emission and pollution control cost is a key to improve air quality management of electricity generation industry. This research comprehensively evaluates abatement cost of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), emission intensity and emission inventory of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from Thailand s fossil fuel power plants. The research applied bottom-up approach with continuously monitored data from 64 percent of Thailand electricity generation industry. The data was used in an evaluation of emission intensity according to technology, fuel type and pollution control system. The research finding indicates that lignite-fired power plants are the major contributors of air pollution in Thailand. The research results will help in improving performance of emission forecast and monitoring via usage of site-specific emission factors. Air emission factors from power plants were found to be 0.022 1.432 g-SO2/kWh, 0.122 5.229 g-NOx/kWh, 0.031 g-PM/kWh, and 452 1,443 g-CO2/kWh. The cost for SO2 reduction from fossil fuel-based power plants are estimated to be 0.03-0.26 US$/Kg-SO2 while abatement costs of NOx are 0.31-9.63 US$/kg-NOx. Flue gas desulfurization with wet lime and dry low-NOx burner are more efficient and cost-effective in controlling SO2 and NOx than the other techniques. The research results were also benchmarked against available international data sources. The findings can be used in policy planning and decision making process of key stakeholders to help improve air quality in the future.

Intertemporal Emission Permits Trading Under Uncertainty and Irreversibility

This paper analyzes the effect of emission permit banking on clean technology investment and abatement under conditions where the stringency of the future cap is uncertain. We examine the problem of heterogeneous firms minimizing the cost of intertemporal emission control in the presence of stochastic future pollution standards and emission permits that are tradable across firms and through time. A firm can invest in clean capital (an improved pollution abatement technology) to reduce its abatement cost. We consider two possibilities: that investment is reversible or irreversible. Uncertainty is captured within a two period model: only the current period cap is known. We show that if banking is positive and marginal abatement costs are sufficiently convex, there will be more abatement and investment in clean technology under uncertainty than there would be under certainty and no banking. These results are at odds with the common belief that uncertainty on future environmental policy is a barrier to investment in clean capital. Moreover, under uncertainty and irreversibility, we find that there are cases where banking enables firms to invest more in clean capital.

Balancing China’s climate damage risk against emission control costs

In this study, we incorporate a three-reservoir climate module into our energy-economy-environmental integrated (3E-integrated) system model, in order to estimate the effect of China’s contribution of unilateral emissions on global warming and to weigh the macro-mitigation cost against the risk of damage, and we also explore the role of adaptation in reducing climate change risk. Our results suggest that China’s unilateral emission-control action plays a relatively limited role in mitigating global warming and is not particularly cost-effective, given that the macro-reduction cost is much larger than the benefit in the corresponding climate damage mitigation. Adaptation plays a large role in curbing China’s climate damages and improving the economics of China’s unilateral emission-control actions, and it is little affected by the introduction and option mitigation strategies. To prevent global warming from exceeding critical thresholds, more international collaborations and cooperative efforts are therefore anxiously needed; as for China, bolstering a low-carbon economy and installing an effective mechanism for improving the adaptation level are two feasible options for controlling climate damage risks, given the great uncertainty on the present situation of international cooperation mitigation.

Economic implications of incorporating emission controls to mitigate air pollutants emitted from a modeled hydrocarbon‐fuel biorefinery in the United States

AbstractThe implementation of the US Renewable Fuel Standard is expected to increase the construction and operation of new biofuel facilities. Allowing this industry to grow without adversely affecting air quality is an important sustainability goal sought by multiple stakeholders. However, little is known about how the emission controls potentially required to comply with air quality regulations might impact biorefinery cost and deployment strategies such as siting and sizing. In this study, we use a baseline design for a lignocellulosic hydrocarbon biofuel production process to assess how the integration of emission controls impacts the minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of the biofuel produced. We evaluate the change in MFSP for two cases as compared to the baseline design by incorporating (i) emission controls that ensure compliance with applicable federal air regulations and (ii) advanced control options that could be used to achieve potential best available control technology (BACT) emission limits. Our results indicate that compliance with federal air regulations can be achieved with minimal impact on biofuel cost (~$0.02 per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) higher than the baseline price of $5.10 GGE−1). However, if air emissions must be further reduced to meet potential BACT emission limits, the cost could increase nontrivially. For example, the MFSP could increase to $5.50 GGE−1 by adopting advanced emission controls to meet potential boiler BACT limits. Given tradeoffs among emission control costs, permitting requirements, and economies of scale, these results could help inform decisions about biorefinery siting and sizing and mitigate risks associated with air permitting. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cost-effective reductions of PM2.5 concentrations and exposure in Italy

In recent years several European air pollution policies have been based on a cost-effectiveness approach. In the European Union, the European Commission starts using the multi-pollutant, multi-effect GAINS (Greenhouse Gas Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies) model to identify cost-effective National Emission Ceilings and specific emission control measures for each Member State to reach these targets. In this paper, we apply the GAINS methodology to the case of Italy with 20 subnational regions. We present regional results for different approaches to environmental target setting for PM2.5 pollution in the year 2030. We have obtained these results using optimization techniques consistent with those of GAINS-Europe, but at a higher resolution. Our results show that an overall health-impact oriented approach is more cost-effective than setting a nation-wide limit value on ambient air quality, such as the one set for the year 2030 by the European Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. The health-impact oriented approach implies additional emission control costs of 153 million €/yr on top of the baseline costs, compared to 322 million €/yr for attaining the nation-wide air quality limit. We provide insights into the distribution of costs and benefits for regions within Italy and identify the main beneficiaries of a health-impact approach over a limit-value approach.

Expansion of a Diesel Plant into a Hybrid Power System Using Power Pinch Analysis

Diesel power system is one of the popular schemes for energy supply generation. It is, however, typically associated with high costs of emission control and maintenance on top of the diesel fuel cost. These limitations can be overcome by incorporating renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar PV along with the existing diesel station. Hybrid systems provide cleaner and reliable power supply, and can be more cost-effective than sole diesel systems. This paper assesses the feasibility of expanding an existing diesel power plant into a hybrid power system (HPS) using Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA). An HPS configuration developed with PoPA methodology can provide optimal solar and wind electricity supplies while minimising the diesel runtime. Results show that an HPS that combines solar and wind system with diesel power generation can provide significant diesel fuel savings while satisfying the demands at a reasonable cost.

Assessing the impacts of preferential procurement on low-carbon building

The significance of global warming is shaping building procurement, with much of the effort aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a preferential bidding mechanism. However, only a limited number of studies have quantitatively estimated the potential impact of bid preference on the emission reduction from building construction. The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of how bid discounts change owners' procurement costs and the magnitudes of emission mitigation. A two-stage optimization model is designed to help the owner determine the discount rate that would automatically control the emission of the awarded contract within a desired level. The goal is for bidders to regard emission reduction efforts as an investment, with returns coming in the form of an increased chance of winning the bid. Our results imply that for the building retrofit project studied herein, a discount rate of 0.6 is suggested for every percentage of emission reduction. This discount level reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 28.2% while raising procurement costs by 3.7% relative to a non-preference mechanism. The increased procurement costs can be partially compensated under existing cap-and-trade scheme. The results show that the choice of discount significantly alters bidders' efforts on emission mitigation, and emission control cost can be minimized with the proposed optimization algorithm.

Economic analysis of atmospheric mercury emission control for coal-fired power plants in China

Coal combustion and mercury pollution are closely linked, and this relationship is particularly relevant in China, the world's largest coal consumer. This paper begins with a summary of recent China-specific studies on mercury removal by air pollution control technologies and then provides an economic analysis of mercury abatement from these emission control technologies at coal-fired power plants in China. This includes a cost-effectiveness analysis at the enterprise and sector level in China using 2010 as a baseline and projecting out to 2020 and 2030. Of the control technologies evaluated, the most cost-effective is a fabric filter installed upstream of the wet flue gas desulfurization system (FF+WFGD). Halogen injection (HI) is also a cost-effective mercury-specific control strategy, although it has not yet reached commercial maturity. The sector-level analysis shows that 193tons of mercury was removed in 2010 in China's coal-fired power sector, with annualized mercury emission control costs of 2.7 billion Chinese Yuan. Under a projected 2030 Emission Control (EC) scenario with stringent mercury limits compared to Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, the increase of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) and the use of HI could contribute to 39tons of mercury removal at a cost of 3.8 billion CNY. The economic analysis presented in this paper offers insights on air pollution control technologies and practices for enhancing atmospheric mercury control that can aid decision-making in policy design and private-sector investments.