Cashing in on VAM: capturing value by generating carbon offset credits from ventilation air methane abatement

摘要

Ventilation systems employed at active underground coal mines emit 81.07 BCF (Billion cubic feet) of methane, which equates to approximately half of all methane (32.4 MtCO_2e) emitted from active US coal mines. Low concentrations of methane in the exhaust air have made beneficial use of this resource uneconomical. While ventilation air methane (VAM) extraction has historically been seen as a cost of safety, developments in US & international voluntary carbon markets have created a real and lucrative revenue opportunity through VAM oxidation for emissions abatement purposes. Using existing regenerative thermal oxidizer technology, coal mines with sufficiently high methane concentrations in their discharged ventilation air can develop projects with internal rates of return in excess of 25% just through the process of monetizing the emission reduction to generate a tradable carbon offset credit.