Colorado State University receives $25 million to help reduce emissions from oil

Colorado State University in Fort Collins has received $25 million in grants to further their mission to reduce methane gases leaking from oil and gas machinery in the United States. CSU received $20 million from the Department of Energy and an additional $5 million from the oil and gas industry to continue their research.

Methane is one of the largest contributors to human-caused climate change. According to CSU, oil and gas is the second greatest contributor to methane in our atmosphere only behind agriculture.

“Methane is a colorless odorless gas. You can’t taste it or smell it. But, it is a powerful greenhouse gas. It is about 80 times more powerful than Co2 on a 20 year basis,” said Dan Zimmerle, director of METEC in Fort Collins.

METEC, short for methane emissions technology evaluation center, is located west of Fort Collins and is disguised to look like a common oil battery and drilling site.

However, many may not know that it is a fake setup created specifically to help research where methane leaks from oil and gas operations. Zimmerle said the research facility is one of the best in the world.

“We are probably one of the largest in the world and probably the most active in the world,” Zimmerle said. “They emit like well pads, but they are fake. Like a Hollywood well pad.”

Peppered throughout the field around the fake well pad are many research devices. Companies are using a wide range of tools and technology to survey where and how leaks are taking place on well pads and during the transfer of oil and gas.

“We are providing a fake oil and gas site and the companies are trying to find real emissions from that fake oil and gas site,” Zimmerle said.

It is estimated that one third of the human-caused climate change is the result of methane being released into the atmosphere. Zimmerle said METEC is working to find ways they can reduce the amount of methane that is accidentally leaked during the production and distribution of oil and gas.

With the grant, METEC expects to not only expand their Fort Collins testing site, but they also want to create mobile and offshore testing units as well.

“The solutions being developed here will be deployed broadly,” Zimmerle said.